Invisible Girl
by tsay cresant
Summary: Ayame is Kakashi's 12 year old daughter, who just lost her mother. Now she has to move to Konaha and join Team 7. Will she revive her relationship with her father, or lose it from the death of her twin brother. please review and favorite :D No YAOI
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"I think you'll really love Konaha Ayame," Kurenai said kindly as she helped me pack my things from the haunting house I use to call home. This house use to be a home. "I know you haven't seen your father in a long time, but I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you again," she continued to try and give me confidence. I already knew what my father felt of me. He wished I was my deceased twin brother Amaya, who died when we were only babies. I knew this because that's why my parents divorced in the first place. My mother couldn't handle that my father wouldn't see me.

I just focused on packing up my things. I didn't have too much, since we didn't have much money, so I was able to fit everything in two suitcases and a backpack. I took some of my mother's things too, like her scrapbook and journal that she left to me. Once I was packed, Kurenai helped me bring my things to my new home in Konaha. "The second room in the apartment is set up like an office for now, but once we get your furniture from your old house it'll be perfect," she said cheerfully. Kurenai had been best friends with my mother when they were in school together. I thought of her as my aunt if anything. I wonder how my mom would feel if she had known that father married her.

"Thank you for your kindness Kurenai-chan," I mumbled, putting my things neatly next to the desk in the small room.

"Kakashi should be home from his mission with his students soon. I know he'll be thrilled to see you!" she grinned. Then she finally noticed that I wanted to be left alone, and she shifted awkwardly. "Well, the bathroom is down the hall, if you want to freshen up. I'll leave you to get comfortable."

I grabbed my toiletries from my bookbag and went into the bathroom. It looked like the bathroom of a bachelor, but then again he and Kurenai did just get married. She must've not gotten to making the bathroom girly yet. I looked into the mirror and cringed, thinking of what everyone would think when they saw me. I look just like my father. My silverly white hair was cut in a bob, that I tried to keep neat but usually never succeeded. My huge coal black eyes stared back at me in the mirror, showing no emotions since I was still numb from my mother's death. I looked away from the mirror and started the bath water. I could hear that my father had just come home and Kurenai was explaining the situation to him. The walls of this apartment are practically paper thin.

"Miku passed away. You know she's been really sick for a while."

"No, I didn't know that. We haven't kept in contact," my father said. His voice sounded indifferent, like he didn't care that my mother was dead.

"Well, Ayame is going to be living with us now. We'll just put her in the office."

I didn't hear any reply from my father. If he said anything, they must've been quiet mumbles. I washed up quickly in the tub and braided my hair into two pigtails. I put on a blue shirt and some jeans and quietly went into my room. I had no desire to see my father.

I pulled a blanket from my suitcase and curled up on the floor of the office. I wanted to go home, to the home before my mother passed away, when everything was good. I didn't like the thought of being in a strange place, with my father none the less. All of this was just too much. I want to go home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Wake up Ayame," Kurenai said softly, shaking me. I jumped awake, almost smacking her in the face while doing so. I steadied myself, holding onto the desk I'd been leaning against. "Kakashi wants you to go with him on his team's mission today. You'll have to be tested to see what level ninja you'd be, but that'll be another day. For now, they'll assume you're a genin."

I nodded, knowing I would at least be chunin, if not jounin when I tested. My mother was one of the most renowned ninjas in Konaha before she left there with me. She's been training me ever since I was small, for my self defense, not to go out and pick fights. I guess this would be a way for Father and me to become close maybe? I don't know. It's probably a lost cause. "Don't look so sad. His students are the same age as you, so I'm sure you'll have fun making new friends! And I'll be out on missions with my squad too, so if you don't get along with them, you can come with me!" she tried to keep upbeat. I just nodded, and once she left I got dressed in ninja worthy clothes. Just some plain navy blue pants and a light blue t shirt. I let my hair out of my pigtails and brushed it quickly, clipping it back with a blue hair clip.

Once I was ready, Father and I walked silently, side by side, out of the apartment building. I looked around Konaha, since I had come at night and didn't really notice the small town. It was cute and cozy, like I could like it here, if it wasn't under these circumstances. As we walked to the bridge where the squad met up, the silence became unbearable for my father. "So…you've grown," he said awkwardly.

"People tend to do that in six years," I answered back coldly.

"Right…" he mumbled. That was the end of our conversation. As the bridge came into view, I saw the rest of his squad. There was a pink haired girl, who looked like she was swooning over this moody looking raven haired boy, and some blonde kid in an overly bright jumpsuit, talking about something that neither of them was listening to. I wasn't sure what to think.

"Hi Kakashi sensei!" The pink hair girl said, and then she turned to me and looked me up and down a few times. "Who is this Sensei?"

"Team, I'd like you to meet our new member, Ayame. Ayame, this is Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto," he said. They all let out a chorus of "hi". I nodded and followed them as we walked to receive our mission.

"I've never seen you before. Are you new?" Sakura said, linking her arm in mine, like we'd be "besties".

"Sort of. I lived here a long time ago, when I was little," I said quietly. She was grinning from ear to ear, like she was excited to have any other female in this squad.

"That's neat! Say, I hate to sound rude, but are you related to Kakashi sensei? You look very similar!"

"Yes, he's my father," I said back. Suddenly, a kind of silence dropped over everyone. I guess they didn't know I existed. That wasn't surprising though.

"Oh," she said, still having her arm linked in mine. "Well that's neat! Are you a ninja in a different village then?"

"Not exactly… I'm not really certified…" I began before I was interrupted by a really tall man in a green jumpsuit. Standing next to him was a boy who looked like he was an exact clone, as if he'd spawned from him or something.

"Kakashi, I think the challenge this time should be..." The tall weirdo began.

"No challenges today Guy. I'm busy," my father said back. The clone weirdo was staring at me, to the point where I wanted to hide behind the father who wouldn't even admit I was his.

"Oh! Is that Ayame?" Guy asked, staring at me like the Guy clone had been. "Wow, she's a tall one isn't she? That's surprising since her lovely mother had been so short. What brings her here?"

"Miku passed away," he said simply, as if it were nothing. Guy looked more upset than my father ever did, but it passed quickly.

"Well I'm sure she trained Ayame very well. She seems like she's strong. Maybe even stronger than Rock Lee," Guy said, putting his hand on the shoulder of his clone. Was that his son?

"I'm not sure. I wouldn't know." Of course he wouldn't know. He wasn't there.

"Sensei, how about I challenge Ayame to a challenge instead! We could become rivals, just like you and Kakashi sensei!" Rock Lee said excitedly. I didn't like the sound of spending anytime with him, even if it was in a rivalry.

"That sounds like a splendid idea Lee! But, I'm not sure your rivalry would be fair. After all, she hasn't had the intense training you've had….and," he paused, but he didn't need to say what everyone knew he was thinking. And I was a girl. Not the perfect rival that my brother would've been.

"I accept your challenge. What is it?" I said, determined. Lee closed his eyes, as if he was thinking and then snapped his fingers and pointed at me.

"I challenge you to a battle. First one down loses," he said, staring up at his teacher, smiling.

"Deal," I said before anyone could interject. We all went to the practice field and stood on apposing sides.

"Alright, now let's have a fair fight," Guy said, standing between us. As he stood there pep talking Lee, I realized something. This was my chance to prove myself to my father. I could prove that I'm just as good of a ninja as Amaya would've been, maybe even better. I could show him that I'm not useless, that I'm not invisible. "One, two, three, go!" He called, waving his hand. The fight began and I blurred out. I follow all of the things that my mother grained into my instincts. I didn't even know what happened until I heard Guy yelling. "STOP STOP! AYAME!" he yelled. Father grabbed my shoulders and yanked me back. My eyes unblurred and I saw the curled up Guy clone lying in the grass. I had blood all over my knuckles.

Guy helped Lee to his feet. "A perfect rival indeed," he mumbled, wiping the blood off his chin. "You may have one this time, but next time I will be victorious!" Lee cheered, standing because he was leaning against his sensei. My father was still holding my shoulders, the closest thing he's ever done to showing affection. Guy and Lee went off, probably to the hospital to get him fixed up. I was still staring at my knuckles.

"Are you alright Ayame?" my father asked as he let go of my shoulders. I nodded and we walked on, to the place where we received missions.

"THAT WAS SO COOL! YOU WERE ALL POW BAM KICK! AND LEE WAS ALL OUCH NOOOOOO!" Naruto cheered and praised as we walked. Sakura looped her arm back through mine again.

"We need someone like you on our team, to make up for having a goof like Naruto on it!" she jabbed at the blonde ninja. They quarreled until we got our mission and headed out. We had to go deliver mail. My father said he was going to sit this one out and stick around there, probably to see Kurenai. Sasuke and Sakura went together to deliver the north side of Konaha's mail, which left me with the hyper blondie on the south side.

We walked out of the offices and started delivering the mail to different houses and apartment buildings. He was still raving about how cool I was. I didn't even notice when he'd stopped talking since it'd just become background noise after a while. I wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't touched my shoulder. "Hey, are you ok? You seem out of it," he said, showing true concern through his blue eyes.

I nodded. "Yea, I'm ok. Just a lot has changed. Just last month I was living somewhere completely different with my mother. Now my mother's dead and I'm living with my father that I haven't seen in six years," I said, and then instantly regretted. "Sorry, that's not really your concern."

"Oh! No, its fine. That makes everything make more sense. And I understand. My parents are dead too. At least you have a cool dad like Kakashi sensei," he smiled. I nodded, not wanting to talk anymore. We delivered the last of the mail in plenty of time. "Hey, how about we go get some ramen? My treat," he said, grinning.

"Sure, but I'll pay for myself," I said, as he grabbed my arm and rushed me over to a ramen restaurant. He pulled me onto one of the bar stools and sat next to me.

"Two ramens please!" he said to the chef, who went to work making our ramen. I didn't even realize how hungry I was until I smelled the ramen. I haven't eaten since breakfast two days ago. The chef set two ramens in front of us, we thanked him, and then I began to eat ravenously. I didn't even notice Naruto staring at me until I had finished eating. He blushed and started eating his own ramen. I got myself a tea, since we were there.

"I think you'll really like it here Ayame," he said after he inhaled his ramen. "It can be a fun place."

"I hope so," I said, watching my tea get cold. Suddenly I felt two hands grab my shoulders.

"Hey Ayame! Sorry for having to leave you with this loser, but I wanted to hang out with Sasuke. You understand right?" Sakura said while I tried to calm back down after her startling me so badly.

"I am not a loser Sakura!" Naruto yelled back, his face red. Sasuke was standing quietly near Sakura. There was no way he liked her.

"Are we done for the day?" I asked, really just wanting to go home.

"Well, we're supposed to go report to sensei, but if you're tired you can head home. We'll tell him where you went," Sakura said. I nodded, paid for my ramen and tea, and went home. When I got there, my furniture was in my room, bed made and everything. Kurenai had left a note on my dresser, but I didn't want to read it right now. I just collapsed on my bed and cried myself to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I woke up at 2 am, feeling really nauseous. I wandered into the kitchen and poured myself some water, trying to ignore the moans and groans coming from the master bedroom. I went back into my room and opened the small window to let in the brisk fall air. I still felt like I was spinning though. Whenever I'd feel sick, my mom use to lie in bed with me and rub my back and pet my forehead until I fell asleep. I usually would feel better after. Now she was gone. I could still picture her perfectly. She was so small, barely five foot, while I towered over her being five foot six. She had long dark purple hair that matched her purple eyes. When she was young she wore it down, like in her pictures in her scrapbook, but I always knew her with it braided and wrapped up on her head. Her dainty facial features, which I could see in my face, were beautiful to say the least. She was always so soft and gentle. It was hard to believe that she was a jounin and considered a great ninja. I couldn't imagine her ever harming anything.

I decided to take this time to unpack my clothes into my dresser and my things into my closet and desk. I could see Kurenai had bought me some things, like new lamps, some picture frames, a journal, a pen set, and some ninja gear, like sandals and shuriken. I would have to remember to thank her once it was a decent hour. Once I unpacked, I started flipping through the scrapbook, staring at my mother in her yearbook pictures, her prom pictures with my father, her wedding pictures, and pictures of her and her squad. All of the memories that she had, now gone since she was gone. She never even had the chance to make up with my father, which she'd always tell me that she wanted to do. She regretted leaving him, but felt like it was necessary for me. It was my fault they broke up in the first place.

I closed her scrapbook to try and keep it from getting wet with my tears. I hugged it close and closed my eyes until I fell back asleep. I woke up when the sun was really bright, and my mouth was sticky from drinking water so late. I rolled out of bed, put my scrapbook back in its place, and checked my clock. It was past noon, so I must've missed the mission. I walked into the living room/ kitchen and found Kurenai sitting in there, reading a decorating magazine. "Hey there sleepy head. We thought you might be tired, so we let you sleep," she said, putting her magazine down. "How about some breakfast? Want to make pancakes?"

I shrugged, not wanting to be rude and say no to Kurenai. She's been so nice to me since I've come here. We went into the kitchen and I started mixing pancake mix. "You've been handling this change very well Ayame. Your dad and I are really proud of you," she said as she melted butter in the pan. What could I say to that? If they knew that I was so numb that I really didn't notice anything, they wouldn't be so "proud" of me. "I know that these circumstances aren't the best, but I'm sure you'll get along and learn to love it here. Did you meet friends yesterday?"

"Yes, they seem nice," I said, pouring mix into the pan. She was talking about things her squad was doing today now, which was easy to block out, like Naruto's praises when we were delivering mail. "Did you hear my Ayame?"

"I'm sorry, what'd you say?" I answered back; embarrassed that she caught me out of it.

"Your squad is going on a week long mission next week. You're delivering a scroll to a water village. I wanted to know if you were going," she said patiently. "It sounds like a relatively easy mission, and it'd give you time to get to know your squad."

"Sure, I'll go," I mumbled, knowing what she meant by get to know my squad. She's made it her mission to have me and my father be best buddies by the end of that mission.

"Excellent! I'm sure Kakashi will be happy about that," she smiled, putting pancakes on a plate. "Eat up!" I ate pancakes, thinking about going on a mission. It'd be way more fun than anything I could be doing here. "Do you know when you'll be taking your ninja placement exam?"

"I'm thinking about not taking it. I mean, in six years I'll be moving out of Konaha anyways, so what's the point?" I answered, this being something I've actually been thinking about.

"You won't want to stay?" she said, disappointed. I guess there goes her hope that I was actually beginning to really like it here.

"No, I'll go home once I'm old enough. I miss my home," I answered sternly. I had already made up my mind, and nothing would change it.

"You sound like your dad when you talk like that," she smiled, taking nothing I'm saying seriously. I finished eating quickly and washed my dish.

"I'm nothing like my father," I said coldly. I went and took a shower, got dressed, and decided to go hunt down my squad. Anything would be better than Kurenai trying to bond with me. "I'm going to go see if I can catch up with team 7," I said as I left. Kurenai was barely paying attention though, since she was back to reading her decorating magazine.

It was nice to walk the streets of Konaha without being tagged along with someone. I could see other teams out with their senseis. Before I could find my squad though, I found Guy and Lee. Lee still looked like a mess. "Ayame! What are you doing out here on your own? It's dangerous to do that," Lee said. Like he should be talking. I just beat the snot out of him yesterday and he's worried about my safety?

"I'm sure I'll be fine… I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to hurt you so badly," I said, feeling genuinely sorry. Even if he is a weirdo, he seems to be nice.

"Oh, it's no problem! It just means I need to train harder," he said with a smile. I shrugged, not really thinking it meant he needed to train harder necessarily.

"Have you seen my team around?" I asked quickly. He nodded.

"Yes, they were raking the practice field. They might be done though," he said. I nodded and waved thanks as I ran towards the practice field. They were still there, since there were tons of leaves.

"You idiot. Stop falling in the leaves or we'll never get done," Sasuke yelled at Naruto, who had leaves all through his blonde hair.

"It isn't my fault that I tripped!" he yelled, but Sasuke, being too cool to fight with him, shrugged him off and went back to raking. Sakura just steamed to herself, and Father was sitting in one of the trees, reading a book.

"Could you use some help?" I called, walking over. Sakura and Naruto looked happy to see me, but Sasuke glared at me.

"Like father like daughter. You're late Ayame," Sasuke said harshly as he turned his back to me and continued raking. I shrunk a little bit.

"Lay off Sasuke! She's having a hard time adjusting is all," Naruto yelled. Sasuke rebuttaled by smacking him over the head with the back of his rake.

"It doesn't matter why she was late. She was late. Now get to work or we'll be here all day," he said, now officially tuning us out. I grabbed the rake that was for my father, but not being used by him, and got to work. Sakura started filling me in on the latest Konaha gossip, which I half listened to. It's hard to listen to gossip about people you've never heard of.

"And then Ino said 'you don't have a shot with him Billboard Brow!' but I told her 'Shut up Ino Pig! He's on my team, therefore I have a better chance!'" she continued, as she raked furiously. Naruto had been demoted to bagging the leaves, since he kept tripping over his rake, and he was far from happy about it.

"Why do I have to bag them? I hate bagging leaves," he whined. Sasuke and Sakura shot him evil glares, which made him shut up and continue bagging.

We didn't finish raking until six in the evening. Naruto was elected to go put the rakes away, and the rest of us headed home. As Father and I walked, I was able to catch a glimpse of what he was reading. I can't believe he's reading that trash! My mother had made him out to be so honorable, and he was even my hero when I was a little girl. Now he's reading trashy novels and skipping out on work. Some hero.

When we got back to the apartment Kurenai was out on a mission with her team, which left us to stare at each other awkwardly over dinner. "Well, are you getting use to it here?" he asked, trying another attempt at making conversation. I nodded, inhaled my food and went to my room, claiming I was tired. I packed my things for our week long mission, starting tomorrow, and sat down on my bed. He knocked on my door.

"Come in," I mumbled, pulling out the journal Kurenai got me and pretending to be occupied. "Yes?"

"Well, since you're going on a mission out of the village tomorrow, I thought it'd be good for you to have this," he said, handing me a ninja headband that looked seriously worn. "It was your mother's, before she left."

I didn't look at him. "Thanks."

"Get some sleep ok? It'll be a long day tomorrow."

"Right"

"Goodnight"

"Goodnight," I mumbled, knowing this isn't how it should be. There was no "I love you" or "I'm sorry I didn't visit in six years, or even write a damn letter". I didn't want to forgive him if he didn't want forgiveness. That was how it would stay, until one of us caved.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I felt so bad for my father's team as we walked over to the meeting place. He told them to meet us at the bridge super early in the morning, just to have us show up at noon. They looked exhausted. "Kakashi sensei, soon we're not going to take any of your meeting times seriously," an even tired and emotionless Sasuke said. My father just rolled his eyes at Sasuke, and we headed out. They had already picked up the scroll we were delivering and everything.

We walked silently, since everyone was either tired or content with it being quiet. After a bit, Naruto finally woke up and his ever constant chatter began. Sakura woke up a little bit later and started her flirting with Sasuke, who was completely uninterested, and I just talked to Naruto somewhat. Sometimes he would be so caught up in what he was saying, he would accidently talk over me, and then feel bad about it after. "Are you going to be taking the chunin exams with us?" he asked as he bounced along

"I don't know. I have to take some sort of exam soon, to see what rank I am. If they consider me a genin, then probably," I said, trying to not look at my father, who was reading his trashy book while walking.

"Oh, well then you probably won't be. You're such a good ninja, you're probably like a jounin or something," he said with his ever constant grin.

"Thanks Naruto," I mumbled, unsure if he heard me since he started talking about something completely different.

"So what do you do for fun? Do you have anything you like to do?" he said, as if he were going through a 'get to know you' chart in his head.

"I like to read, and use to like to sing," I said back. His face lit up even more, if that were even possible.

"Sing something for us!" he cheered. I could feel myself turn extremely red.

"I don't think that's a very good idea," I whispered. Instantly his smile went away. He could see that was touchy.

"Oh, sorry. Well I like eating ramen for fun, and practicing. I'm going to be hokage one day, you know!" he said, bouncing back quickly from that awkward moment. "I'm going to prove to everyone that I'm not useless!"

I could understand the feeling of wanting to prove yourself. I wanted to prove myself to my father, who constantly turned a blind eye to me. "I'm sure you'll show everyone Naruto."

"Not if he keeps on the trail he's paving. For now he's just an annoying loser," Sasuke said.

"Yea Ayame. Naruto is just a slacker. He can't do anything right," Sakura added. Naruto just tried hard to ignore them, but I could tell it was getting to him.

"I don't think he's a slacker, or a loser. If you want to be a good team, you shouldn't be saying that about your teammates," I said flatly. I could feel Sakura's awkwardness, having to decide whether to side with me or her crush. Naruto's grin bounced back fully.

"See! I'm not a loser! If Sensei's daughter says that I'm not then it must be true!" He cheered. I was just glad he was happy, whether his reasoning made sense or not didn't matter.

We walked all through the day, and didn't stop until it was starting to get dark. "We'll set up camp here I guess," Father said, putting his pack down. Sakura and I started setting up our tent while Naruto and Sasuke fought over who would set up their tent and who'd make the fire. My father was still just sitting there, reading his book, not really concerned at all. By the time our tent was set up, Naruto got stuck rubbing sticks together and Sasuke was trying to not look like an idiot as he wrestled the boys' tent. I sat down next to Naruto and watched his fruitless attempts.

"Do you need some help?" I asked, watching his face becoming red with anger at the sticks. He shook his head though and continued rubbing them together in the stack of wood. I quietly did a fire jutsu that made them catch fire.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAA! LOOK AT THAT SASUKE! I GOT IT BEFORE YOU FINISHED THE TENT!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone but I shot him a glare.

"Naruto, you're awfully loud for a ninja. Be quiet unless you want to draw attention to yourself," Sakura mumbled as she sat next to me. I was just thankful we had a fire. Even though it was only mid October, it was cold at night. I didn't really think of packing warm clothes, which I'm starting to regret. Naruto let out a giant yawn.

"I'm going to hit the sack…. Oh wait, the heir to the Uchiha clan is still not able to defeat our tent!" He called over in Sasuke's direction. Father sighed, and got up to help the kid with the tent. I tucked my knees under my extremely loose shirt, trying to keep my legs warm. Why did I wear shorts today? Sakura must've been cold too, because she headed off to the tent. I just stayed near the fire, as if thinking about being warm would make me warmer. Suddenly I felt something around my shoulders. I turned around to see Naruto with the jacket of his jumpsuit off, now wrapped around me. I was sooooo warm and cozy. "You can hang onto that tonight Ayame. You look a lot colder than I am." It's a good thing we were just by firelight, so he couldn't see how badly I was blushing.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It's weird to wake up before everyone else, but that's what I did. I still had Naruto's jacket on as I got rid of the evidence of our fire. One thing I noticed through the night was that Naruto had a smell to him. He smelled musty, like a dog, and spicy like ramen. It wasn't a bad smell.

Sasuke was the next one awake, and he helped me clean up everything but the tents. I had a strange feeling that we were being watched, but tried to shake it off once everyone else was awake. I gave Naruto back his coat and we all headed back on our long journey. "We should be there by tomorrow, if all goes smoothly," Father mumbled behind his book. We kept walking on, sometimes in silence, and sometimes playing road trip games that Naruto started.

"I'm looking at something that's the color brown," Naruto said. We all sighed because we all knew the answer. All that was around was trees.

"Let me guess, you're looking at a tree," Sakura said, obviously getting really sick of him. He nodded and we went back to walking in silence. Then, Father stepped in to the rescue.

"How about we use this time to train? The four of you could race each other to the location of our next camp sight, since there doesn't seem to be any danger and you all seem bored out of your minds," he said, looking up from his book.

"Perfect idea Sensei! I'm going to beat you Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he dashed down the path, only to trip and fall on his head a few yards away. Sasuke and Sakura started running as well. I was hesitant though.

"Not the racing type?" Father asked, putting his book in his side pocket. I shrugged.

"It just seems like a waste of energy is all… And I feel like we're being watched," I admitted, looking around the trees. He nodded.

"Of course we're being watched. There are always ninjas around here, but I don't think any of them are against us. If there are any, I'm sure it's nothing those three can't handle," he stated firmly. Then the awkward silence sunk in. I occupied myself with kicking rocks on the path we were on, while my father just focused on staring straight ahead. "So….Your mother…Had she really gotten that worse?" he finally asked. I nodded.

"I guess it was a relief when she passed away. She'd been bad for more than a year," I answered, looking at the ground.

"I wish I had known. I would've come to visit. I'm sure that couldn't have been easy," he said quietly. I stared straight ahead.

"She said she didn't want you there, because you'd only be there out of obligation. You didn't want to watch her die," I said coldly, wishing I ran the race. I felt him cringe next to me.

"Is that what she told you?" he asked, sounding pretty hurt.

"She didn't have to. It showed in her eyes every time someone asked if they should get a hold of you. She'd always refuse, saying you wouldn't want to come," I said. "I think I'm going to run the race now," I said quickly, dashing off. I heard him call for me, but I didn't stop. I couldn't let him see me cry. I didn't want to start screaming at him for leaving me and mom. I could still remember the night he left.

_"Kakashi, you can't keep doing this to us. Can't you see that it's killing Ayame?" my mom whisper/yelled, thinking I was still upstairs, sleeping._

_ "I can't help it, you know that," he answered back, looking out our kitchen window, his back to my mother. She touched his shoulder._

_ "There's something else. What's the matter?" she asked, worry coloring her voice blue. "You can tell me anything, you know that."_

_ "I have to leave Miku," he said flatly. Her hand retreated._

_ "What do you mean leave, Kakashi? Where are you going?" she asked, not worried anymore, but hurt._

_ "I can't stay here anymore. I'm going back to Konaha. My things are already packed. I just can't handle this….situation. My life has been full of loss and heartache. I don't think I could handle another death," he said quickly, tumbling over a few words as he grabbed a backpack from the hall closet. _

_ "So you don't want to stick around to see me die, is that it? You aren't enough of a man to own up to the fact that you're married to someone who's sick? You can't handle that, so you're abandoning me? You're abandoning your six year old daughter who looks up to you like some kind of hero! Then again, I use to think you were a hero to," she yelled, wiping her eyes on her sleeve._

_ "Miku, I'm sorry," he said as he walked out the door. She ran after him._

_ "Well, then don't come back Kakashi Hatake! You go live your miserable life by yourself you bastard! Don't expect to ever hear from me again!" she screamed at the top of her lungs before slamming the door. I ran quietly back to my room, and tried to go back to sleep, hoping it was a bad dream._

Lost in my own thoughts, I tripped over Naruto, who was on the ground from falling flat on his face for the fifth time. I fell next to him, smacking my head in the dirt. He pulled himself up. "I'm sorry Ayame! Are you ok?" he asked, grabbing my arm to help me up. I yanked my arm away from him.

"Go Naruto. You want to be Sasuke right?" I mumbled, trying to pull myself up. My arm hurt so badly though, which was making me cry more. Naruto kneeled next to me.

"I can race Sasuke some other time. Let me see your arm. It looks like you hurt it," he said, trying to sit me upright. I sat up with his help, staring at my arm that was starting to turn dark purple. "Sensei! I think Ayame is hurt," he called. Great, now Father would feel bad. It seemed like in only minutes he was over here, looking at my arm.

"It seems like it's broken. Once we get to the water village we'll have a doctor check it out. For now, we'll sling it," he said, pulling out his medical pack with some kind of charm on it. He pulled a cloth from it and used it as a sling for me.

"Thanks Father," I said quietly, standing up with their help. "Naruto, aren't you going to go run?"

"No, I've definitely lost by now. I'll stay with you guys," he grinned as we started walking again. Then he stopped. "Or, I could prove that I'm even better than Sasuke, by adding weight!"

"Huh?" Was all I got to say before he threw me on his shoulders and started running. "NARUTO! PUT ME DOWN!" I yelled, smacking him over the head with my good arm.

"Are you trying to make me trip? Don't you want to win?" He yelled back playfully. I could hear my father laughing at us from where he was. I stopped arguing and held onto Naruto's neck tight with my good arm. "Hey, don't choke me ok? We'll definitely lose then." I nodded, bouncing up and down from his stride. Even though I was quite a bit taller than Naruto, I somehow managed to fit on his back pretty perfectly.

We got to the next stop, and lost miserably. Sakura and Sasuke were there, talking. "Took you long enough Naruto," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. I got off Naruto's back. "What happened to you? Did you get in a fight or something?"

"Yea! We got in a fight! There were ten different ninjas after us and I and Ayame took them all! The only bad thing was Ayame broke her arm," Naruto said proudly. I didn't say anything, just played along.

"Whatever, loser," Sasuke mumbled, not buying it. We set up camp again, Father not showing up for another hour or so. By the time he got here, we already made dinner and such. Sakura was telling me about her and Sasuke's time they spent without us, which sounded like a lot of her flirting and him blowing her off while Naruto and Sasuke competed to see who could go higher on a tree. Sasuke was winning. Father was reading his book, as usual.

"So what's going on with you and Naruto?" Sakura asked, as if it's been killing her to know. I saw Naruto's ears perk.

"What do you mean?" I asked, rubbing my sore arm. I didn't know what to say. Naruto was really friendly, and has been really nice… I'm not sure if there's anything else to it than that.

"Well you know, you two have been hanging out a lot since you came," she said quietly, so my father wouldn't hear us talking. He seemed pretty absorbed in his book anyways.

"I don't know. I don't think you guys give him enough credit," I said, staring at the fire, trying to not glance at him to see how he reacts to things. "He's very….friendly."

"He's obnoxious, not friendly. I'm surprised you haven't gone insane spending so much time with him. I mean, how can you even notice him with someone like Sasuke around?" she said, getting excited just thinking about Sasuke.

"I don't understand why you like him Sakura, but whatever. I don't find Naruto to be too obnoxious. I'm quiet and he's loud, so we cancel each other out," my head was spinning. I didn't want to think about Naruto anymore. "I'm going to bed," I announced. Father looked up from his book, like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. That's how Father always was. He always wanted to say or do something, but he never did. Does it really matter if you thought about it if you didn't take the chance?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The urgency for us to get to the water village was rising when everyone got a look at me in the morning. My arm was extremely swollen and a dark purple from my shoulder to my elbow. Naruto offered to carry me, but I reminded him that my arm had nothing to do with my ability to walk, and we went on. "Does it hurt badly?" he asked, still convinced I needed carried.

"It's bearable," I kind of lied. It hurt just to move my shoulders while I walked. All I wanted to do was sleep. I never went on missions like this, since I was never a professional ninja, so I wasn't use to this kind of thing. Now that a broken arm was added into the equation, I was beat. Father and Naruto were giving me looks, both thinking the same thing. "I can walk you two. Really. It's ok."

By lunch time we were at the water village. It was a cute little fishing village, which made me think one thing. They probably don't have the best hospital in the world here. I guess it'd have to do though. "Alright, how about you three deliver the scroll, and I'll take Ayame to the hospital," Father said, shuffling through his bag for the scroll.

"But Sensei, shouldn't you be there to deliver the scroll, since you're our leader?" Sakura asked. Naruto perked up.

"I'll take her!" he said happily. Father looked surprised, to say the least.

"Are you sure Naruto?" he said, confused to why he'd want to, since being a good ninja and things like that were so important to him.

"Yea, I'm sure. You guys go without me." He waved them off and we headed in some direction, which I'm assuming was the direction of the hospital. Truthfully, I don't think he had any idea either, but he'd never admit that. He was taking us down bunches of different roads, until we'd gone in a complete circle.

"Naruto, maybe we should ask someone?" I said, looking around at all of the people here. I'm sure one of them would help us.

"No, I know where we're going," he said loudly, so we soldiered on. It took another hour of going in complete circles for him to give in and let me ask someone. Once we knew where we were going, it only took us about ten minutes to get there. It was how I expected it to be. The hospital was very small, and was probably a house at one point. I doubted the medical knowledge of anyone that could be in there, but I was short on options.

When we went inside, the receptionist had us sit in a waiting room that was full of people. Some of them were just sick, but others had injuries like me. The scariest one, which I couldn't help but stare at, was this man with a knife stuck in his knee. Naruto was staring at all the sick people, like he could stare down the germs so he wouldn't get sick. "Naruto, I have a question," I said, snapping him out of his germ death stare.

"Yea Ayame?" he said hopefully. What was he hoping I would ask him?

"Why do Sasuke and Sakura dislike you so much?" His face turned reddish. I guess that wasn't really the question he wanted, but he sighed and went to answer.

"I have a demon fox sealed in me, so everyone hates me," he said plainly. I must have some kind of look on my face because his sunk. "I figured that's how you'd react."

"Now hold on just a minute. How do you have a demon fox sealed in you?" I asked, kind of freaking out. Does that mean he's dangerous or something?

"It was sealed in me to protect the village. I don't know all of the logistics though," he said, but then smiled quickly. "That isn't a problem is it? Or are you going to hate me like Sasuke and Sakura do?"

"I don't hate you Naruto," I said plainly. Why wasn't I told about this earlier? Well, then again I didn't ask if he had a sealed demon fox in him. I guess that's my fault for not asking.

"So, you like to read?" he started, liking that we were talking about something at least. I was getting rather sick of awkward silences.

"I love to read," I answered back, watching some people file in to be treated. Still the guy with the knife in his knee was sitting here, reading some ninja magazine.

"You don't read those trashy novels that your dad likes do you?" he asked. I must've looked offended, which I am. "I'll take that as a no."

"I prefer books with substance, thank you very much," I muttered. "Why? Are you an avid _Itcha Itcha Paradise_ reader?" I jabbed at him. He laughed.

"No, I don't like to read in general. It's a waste of time," he said, "I'd rather be out training. That's actually something worth while."

"Yea, but then you aren't well rounded. What if you got paralyzed from a battle? Then you'd see no other need for existing since all you did was train. If you have other hobbies though, like reading, writing, playing music, painting, or even an ant farm for goodness sake, you'll still be happy enough," How many times did I hear this argument with my parents? At least once a week.

_My hobby back in the day was to spy on my parents, to prove I was a good ninja. I was never caught, so that must prove something. I didn't need to spy to hear this argument though. The favorite time it was brought up was dinner, because usually Father was late for dinner. He'd say he'd be home by five, and he'd show up at seven thirty, when the food was cold, and I was asleep on my empty plate. Mom would always wake me up though. _

_ This day wasn't a particular one, just another day of him walking in late. As soon as he walked in, my mom was in her angry wife stance, her hands on her hips, giving him the look. "Can you not be late for once please?" she said, not sounding as angry as she was. My mom was very even tempered. You could drop her favorite necklace down the drain (woops) and she wouldn't scream or yell. She'd just tell you not to go through her things again, which by that time you'd feel so bad that you wouldn't want to anyways, and send you off on your way._

_ "We were busy today. Sorry. I'll make a better effort to be home on time," he'd say every time, as he took off his vest and rolled down his mask. When Father's mask was on, that meant he was working, but whenever he was home, he rolled it down. I never understood why he hid his face though._

_ My mother sighed and went to reheat the food she made. "You work too hard," she'd start. That's always how it started. "You need to find something more productive to do with your time than killing people."_

_ "I'm helping my village Miku. I don't see that as a waste of time. Just because you don't hold any loyalty for Konaha doesn't mean I don't. It's my home," he'd say. I use to agree with him and think my mom was being pushy, until I was in the same situation with Naruto._

_ "I know, but can't you do something more with your time? You use to love to paint. What happened to that?" she said, smiling while she thought about the past. He rolled his eyes._

_ "That was a really long time ago Miku. That's back when Rin was still living," he said, walking closer to her. I knew about my father's old team, since there were pictures of them in the house. When some boy on their team named Obiuto died, my mother joined their team to take his place. At that time, my father was dating some girl named Rin, but when she died, my parents got together._

_ "I know, but what does that have to do with it? You had natural talent in that. There's nothing natural about being a shinobi," she said. People always said my mom was a hippie because she liked nature and things to be natural. The thing she hated the most was killing and war._

_ "I know you don't like it, but it's my job. It was your job at one time too," he'd say, knowing the fight was basically over._

_ "Don't remind me. Now sit down with your daughter, and try harder to be on time next time," argument over. Father always won. Mom loved him too much to fight for too long before giving in._

"You do that a lot don't you?" Naruto asked while I came back to reality.

"Huh?" I asked, noticing the room had emptied more. The guy with the knifed knee was gone, thank goodness.

"You zone out a lot. I was talking to you, but you definitely weren't listening," he chuckled. "You looked like you were in a trance or something."

"Oh… No, I was just remembering. I didn't mean to ignore you Naruto," I said, rubbing my shoulder.

"It's ok. What were you remembering?" he asked. I stretched my legs in the uncomfortable fold out chair.

"Just things from being a kid. Nothing particularly important," I said, leaning my head back. "So, what's Sasuke's problem?" I asked, wanting to turn the focus away from either of us. Naruto started on a story of how his parents were slaughtered by his brother and now he was crazy for vengeance. "That won't end well."

"What do you mean? Sasuke was top of our class. He's supposedly all that," Naruto mumbled, not wanting to believe that Sasuke was a good ninja.

"It doesn't matter. Vengeance never ends well. All it does is destroy you, and once you finally get your vengeance, you never feel better. "Naruto definitely disagreed with me. It was all over his face. "That's just my opinion though," I added quickly. "I'm not a fan of quite a few shinobi ideologies."

"Well, in Sasuke's case, he doesn't have much of a choice," Naruto said, wanting to end the conversation.

"If that's what you want to think," I said, ending it as well. The silence didn't last long since we got called back and I started getting my arm casted. Even though it was only the top half of my arm broken, I needed a full arm cast. I got a blue one, since that's my favorite color, and we left as soon as we could. Of course, since we'd wasted so much time wandering aimlessly before we found the hospital, it was already dark, and I was starving. Naruto was too.

"How about some ramen? I'll pay this time," he said, finding a sit down restaurant that seemed pretty quiet. We sat down in there, and just the smell of food made my stomach grumble at me.

"You don't think they're looking for us?" I asked, not wanting to make my father or the others worry.

"Well, they could be, but let's not worry about that. I'm hungry," he said, ordering two ramens, and some tea. "I'm sure they aren't all that worried."

"Let's hope they aren't at least," I said, leaning my head against the table. "So what's with that Rock Lee kid? Is Guy is dad?" I asked, knowing Naruto wouldn't mind giving me the scoop.

"No, Guy sensei is just his sensei. They're practically father and son though. Rock lee is just like Guy in wanting to always prove himself. I guess that's why he wants a rival. He wanted Sasuke as his rival at first, but since Guy's rival has a kid, it made sense to him to go for you," he said, tapping his fingers anxiously, wanting ramen. Suddenly it clicked. I met Guy one time before.

_It was the day my mom was officially fed up. I was probably five at the time. She got me all cute looking, with blue ribbons in my hair and a blue sundress. "Where are we going Mama?"_

_ "We're going to go see your daddy at work," she said, obviously sounding irritated as she wrapped her hair up on her head. As soon as she was ready, we started walking to Konaha. My parents always let me walk when we went places instead of them carrying me. I just had to hold onto them. _

_ Konaha had seemed so big back then. I remember being scared by all of the people, but my mom kept a hand on my head, to make sure she didn't lose me. We got to the building that held the ninja academy and the place where they got their missions, and we were greeted by the tall green ninja, I now know as Guy. "Well if it isn't the lovely and fair Miku, gracing us with her presence," he said, grabbing my mom's hand to kiss it. She pulled away though._

_ "Where's Kakashi?" she asked flatly. Guy got this grin on his face, like he knew my father was in the dog house._

_ "He's off on another mission. You can wait inside for him if you'd like," he said, taking her hand. "Allow me to show you." She looked far from happy. I'm guessing my mom use to be something that Guy and my father fought over. We got inside and went to the mission report area. My mother sat on the floor with me and started trying to entertain me with things in her purse, which wasn't much of anything. So, she took some unused mission papers and a pen, and we played tic tac toe, and drew pictures on the floor. The old guy, who I now know is the Hokage, found it to be pretty amusing. _

_ "I can see why you want Kakashi home. I just don't understand why he's been taking extra missions if you have a little girl at home," he said, watching us play. I could tell my mom was sad by that._

_ "That's how he copes with things. He buries himself in work. That's always how he's been," she mumbled while she drew flowers on my paper. The Hokage put a kind hand on her shoulder._

_ "How are you coping with things?" he asked. She sighed, then looked up at me and patted my head. _

_ "It's not always easy to be told about death. This is just adding onto the loss of Amaya," she said, trying to smile again. I knew mom was sick around this time. She tried to explain it to me, but it didn't make sense back then. It had something to do with her running out of chakra, so now her body was slowly taking her energy that she used to live, which would eventually cause her body to shut down. She lasted a lot longer than she was supposed to._

_ "You and Kakashi will get through it. You're both tough," he said with a smile, patting my mom's head, and then going back to his seat because a ninja came in asking for another mission. It wasn't long after that when Father came back. He was definitely surprised to see us. _

_ "What are you two doing here?" he asked, almost like he was annoyed that we came to his place of work. Mom stood up, looking so tiny next to him._

_ "Can you come home, please?" she asked weakly. She always wanted him to come home. She needed him home._

I snapped out of it to the smell of food. I don't particularly like ramen, but I was starting to get use to it with friends like Naruto. I ate quickly and then relaxed and drank tea. Naruto was trying to not be obnoxious sounding when eating, but that's not easy with ramen. He gave up pretty quick.

Once he finished, he paid the bill, with his adorable froggie change purse, and we tried to figure out where our team went. It wasn't too hard since they'd all split up to try and find us. We found Sasuke first. "Where have you two losers been? We've been looking all over this village for you!" he complained, grabbing Naruto by the back of the neck and giving me the signal to hurry along. We went to this hotel, where I'm assuming we're staying, and dragged us to the room we were staying in. "Wait here."

We waited in there for about ten minutes until the others came back. Father was far from happy. "Where have you two been?" he said, trying to keep his cool. I think this was the first time I've seen him genuinely angry.

"We got lost on the way to the hospital, and didn't get out till really late, so we stopped for a late dinner. Sorry sensei," Naruto said.

"You should be very sorry Naruto," was all he answered back with. When Father was angry, he couldn't usually talk well, so he avoided talking. I didn't understand why he was so angry. It's not like I'm Amaya or anything.

Once everyone calmed down, it was suddenly a race to the shower, which I won since I smacked Naruto over the head with my cast. "That thing could be a weapon!" he yelled while I stood in the little locked bathroom, satisfied with myself. I got my well over due shower and put on some clothes that would be good for pajamas. When I left the bathroom, the others swarmed it. Sakura won this time.

I sat down on one of the beds that my father was lying on while reading his book. He put it down and smiled at me. I looked away. "We really need to talk don't we?" he said simply. I just kept my eyes on my hands. He moved next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. I was just trying to pretend that Naruto and Sasuke weren't eavesdropping. "We can't now, since we're on a mission, but when we get home-"

"There's nothing I need to talk about," I said quietly, moving away. I could tell he was hurt but wouldn't show it too much. That's the good thing about shinobi training. You learn to suppress feelings.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"_Daddy, I'm going to be a mighty shinobi when I grow up," I cheered while I watched him train in our back yard. He smiled and walked over to me._

_ "Is that so? Well, how about giving it a shot?" he said, handing me a shuriken. "Just don't tell your mom, or she'll never let me sleep." He chuckled at how strict my mom was about those things. I hopped up, holding the shuriken. "Do you know how to throw one? Or do you want me to show you?"_

_ "Can you show me Daddy?" I asked, not wanting to do it wrong. He threw one and it looked relatively easy. I threw it, and at least it landed on the board. The aim was off though._

_ "That was fantastic Amaya!" he called, and then froze. I looked up at him._

_ "Why'd you call me Amaya Daddy?"_

My alarm clock screeched at me around one in the afternoon, waking me with a jolt. We got home from our mission really late last night, making this an even less welcomed waking than usual. I dragged myself out of bed though and into the shower. Once I was clean enough, I threw on some clothes and ate breakfast while staring down the dirty dishes that were piling up. Normally, Kurenai would've made sure that those were taken care of, but she was sick. I finished my breakfast, and checked the time. I was late for training with Naruto. I cracked Father and Kurenai's bedroom door, and looked in to see my father taking care of her, measuring out her medication, asking her if she needed anything. I imagine this is how he would've been with my mother when she was ill, if he'd stuck around.

"What do you need Ayame?" he asked, turning to face me. I tensed up slightly, knowing he'd been wanting to talk to me ever since the race incident. Ever since then, things have been awkward.

"I was just going to say that I'm off to train," I said, leaving the room. He said something about being home before dark and such, but I wasn't paying much attention. I threw on my headband and hurried to the practice field. Naruto was practicing shuriken accuracy. "Hi Naruto," I called, making my presence known.

"You're late," he said, turning to face me. He sounded annoyed, but in a teasing way.

"Yea, sorry. I woke up late," I said, which is true. I also didn't want to train with a broken arm, but Naruto invited me to, and it'd be rude to say no, right?

"At least you don't make up lame excuses like your dad does," he said with a smile. He stared down my arm. "That isn't going to make it easy for you to train."

"Yea," I said, staring at it too. He sighed, putting his shuriken away.

"How about we skip training today? We could do something else," he said, rubbing his hands. "Sakura and Sasuke aren't here to rain on our fun. How about a movie?" he said. That sounded better than training. It was starting to get cloudy, like there could be some weather. It was perfect for going to the movies.

"Sure," I said. I had no clue where anything was, so Naruto lead the way. It was weird to notice how no one really looked him straight in the eyes when we walked by. After a while we got to the movies. I shoved my hand into my pocket, digging around for some money. Of course, I had none on me.

"Don't worry about it Ayame. My treat," he said, buying two tickets for some horror movie. I absolutely adore horror movies, so I was excited. I think he just picked it though so he could seem tough. We found our seats in the dark, crowded theater, somewhere in the back. I'd never really been to the movies before exactly. My mom, in her many different jobs, had worked as the person who runs the movies once. I got to go up there and watch movies while she worked sometimes, so that's how I developed such a love for them. It was weird to be on this side of the theater.

The room got even darker, and the movie started. There was nothing particularly special about the movie. It was your average scary monster movie. Naruto and I were as loud and obnoxious as we could possibly be. I would scream at the top of my lungs when the monster would come out, while Naruto would be all "if I saw that thing, I could take it, because I'm the best ninja ever!" The people in front of us left before the movie was even over.

The movie ended way too soon. We were both laughing to the point where we felt like we'd puke by the end. Naruto stopped for a second and got this giant grin. "What?" I asked, rubbing my sore face.

"I've never heard you laugh before, let alone smile!" Naruto cheered, considering it an accomplishment that he was the one who got me too. I grinned, but then jumped out of my skin when I heard a loud crack of thunder. The weather must be terrible!

"Want to come over? My house is close by," I said, in such a good mood now. He nodded, still grinning, as we ran from here to my apartment building.

We got to the apartment to find Kurenai out of bed, in a robe in the kitchen, drinking tea. "Hello Ayame. Hello Naruto," said the very congested Kurenai. We both said hi, and stood in the kitchen. I had no clue what to do now that Naruto was here. I took my shoes off, trying to think on my feet. What did I use to do with my friends? Play board games, but Naruto doesn't seem like he'd like that.

"Whatdaya wanna do?" Naruto asked, taking his soaked orange jacket off. I had an idea.

"Have you ever played chess?" I asked, knowing we probably had that here somewhere.

"Uh…Chess? Of course I've played chess! I'm a master of chess!" he said, full of himself. I knew that he had no clue. I smiled and dug through the closet till I found a chess board, and set it up on the floor in the living room. Naruto watched intensely, trying to figure out how to play by how I set it up. I patted the floor next to where I was sitting.

"Chess is about military strategy. The goal is to protect your king and to take the other person's king," I said. He looked confused though. "Ok, so, these pieces are the kings. They're like the lord of the country. The queen is like the hokage, the best piece but there's only one. The knights, bishops, and rooks are like jounin and chunin. They're the better fighters, but there aren't an extreme amount of them, and the pawns are like genin, they aren't too strong but there are lots of them," I said, hoping it made sense. I explained how they moved, and then we started playing.

I kept trying to let him win at least one game, but after an hour we'd played four games, me winning all of them. My father was in the kitchen with Kurenai, talking about something that I couldn't really hear. Naruto sighed after he lost again. "Listen, Ayame. Can I be honest with you?"

"Of course Naruto," I said, smiling. It seems like ever since today I would never stop smiling.

"Well, since I have this demon fox inside of me, everyone in the village hates me. They don't really want me near them," he started. I nodded, understanding that. "So, really, you're the only friend I've ever had."

"Oh," I said, surprised at first, but then not at all. I'm sure many people would want to avoid association with a demon fox.

"So, thanks," he said, scratching the back of his head, grinning awkwardly. I smiled back.

"You're very welcome Naruto," I said, setting up the board for another game. I had no clue what time it was, but in my head it didn't matter. This had been the best day in a really long time for me. After this match, which I let Naruto win, my father intervened.

"It's getting late, and you both have missions tomorrow. I'd say its time for you to head home Naruto," he said, rubbing his one eye. Naruto stood up and stretched his legs.

"Thanks for having me over Sensei…And thanks Ayame, for everything," he said smiling with a slight blush. I nodded and he headed off. I put the chess board away, got a quick shower and was thinking about sleep. Then that knock came.

"Come in," I answered, braiding my hair. My father came in, his mask and headband off, now that Naruto was gone. He looked tired, to say the least, as he sat down next to me on my bed.

"You seem to be feeling a lot better," he said, cracking his gloveless fingers. My father always looked completely different when he worked and when he was home.

"I guess," I said, not really feeling better about the situation. Naruto just helped me forget my troubles for a while.

"You and Naruto seem to be becoming good friends," he said, giving me a look. I nodded while the awkward silence seeped back in. He sighed, trying to find words. "Listen, Ayame, I hope you understand that I truly am sorry for not being there for you." I said nothing back. "It wasn't because I wanted to abandon you or your mother. It's just that, my life has been full of death. I never really had a person to rely on always being around until your mother and I got together, and then when Amaya passed away and she got sick, it became too much. I wasn't trying to hurt either of you."

I bit down on my lip, knowing if I said anything, it'd be mean. He wrapped an arm around me. "Ayame? Do you hear me?" I nodded. "I know that you told Kurenai that you don't want to stay in Konaha, or take the shinobi placement test, but I'd like to ask you to reconsider. I've really missed you, and really want us to build a lasting relationship together."

"If you missed me, why didn't you come see me?" I asked. He sighed, rubbing my broken arm. I never realized how long his fingers were, just like mine.

"You know it was a complicated situation. Your mother didn't want me there," he said. I told myself over and over again to not cry, to not let him get the best of me. He could tell I was close to breaking point though. Today had been the best day ever. Why was it crumbling apart now? "Ayame?"

"I needed you Dad," I said, feeling weird, since I haven't thought of him, or called him Dad in six years. "I needed my father while my mother was shriveling away in a hospital bed!" I yelled, no longer fighting the tears because there was no point. "I tried to get a hold of you, even though Mom didn't want to see you. I wrote so many letters, only to get returns because you changed your address. I was going to come to Konaha to find you, but I was afraid Mom would die while I was gone," I said, rubbing viciously at my face with my casted arm. He grabbed it gently and lowered it from my face.

"Ayame, I'm sorry. It's in the past though. If I could go back in time and heal all wounds, I would. I love you Ayame. You're my daughter, and the only blood relative I have left. You mean the world to me," he said, his own voice breaking. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"I'm not Amaya though," I said quietly. His eyebrows rose.

"What do you mean by that?" he said, shocked that I'd even mention Amaya. We always tried to not mention Amaya.

"I know you always wished he was around instead of me. Even now, I'm sure you wish that," I mumbled. He pulled me into a hug, which just made me cry more. This is what I needed, what I've wanted for six years. He kept a firm arm around my back, and petted my hair that was falling out of its braid while I bawled my eyes out into his shoulder. He didn't try to stop me even though his shirt was soaked, just let me release what needed to be released. Once I calmed down, he didn't let go right away.

"You know that's not true," he whispered. "Right?"

"How could I? You'd always accidently call me Amaya," I whispered back. Now I was realizing why he didn't pull back. He was crying, just like I had been, only not as loud. I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't so close to him.

"I love you for who you are Ayame. Do I wish your brother had lived? Of course I do, but I would never trade you, or wish you away for him," he said, pulling away, rubbing his eyes too. I stared at him. This is the father I looked up to, the father I knew I needed when my mother's complexion turned grey and her hair lost its shine. I just wasn't sure if he existed or not.

"I missed you Daddy," I said, feeling so much better. He smiled slightly, as emotionally beaten as I was.

"I missed you too Ayame. I miss your mother too. There's so much that was left unsaid," he said, rubbing his hands together. I nodded.

"She always meant to fix things," I said. He nodded, thinking that he'd wanted to do the same. It was too late though. After sitting in an unawkward silence for a while, he stood up.

"Well, we both need sleep tomorrow. More likely than not, our mission will probably involve weeding or something," he said with a chuckle. I smiled and nodded. "Goodnight Ayame. I love you," he said, kissing my forehead.

"Goodnight Daddy. I love you too," I answered back, tasting the words I'd longed for, for so many years. Sometimes, I'd even whisper them to myself as I'd lie in bed. This time was different though. This time, my dad was here.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

October flew by, and in no time it was mid November. We were on our way to meet up with team seven, and stopped at the ninja supply store before we came, to pick up studying materials for me for my ninja placement exam, and we picked up the mission too. We were weeding the Yamanaka's gardens. Sakura was far from thrilled. "I can't believe we have to do Ino Pig's yard!" she whined as we walked there. Sasuke was mumbling to himself about how this was such a waste of time, and Naruto was, oddly enough, walking quietly beside me. He didn't say anything until we got to the Yamanaka's. Even then he didn't say anything until they were about half way done with the weeding.

I was sitting with my dad under a tree, studying for my test. Naruto was "weeding", which meant he was pulling out any kind of plant around him. He was getting scolded by Sasuke, when finally he snapped. "You can't tell me what to do Sasuke! I may not be good at weeding, but I'm the best ninja in this village! One day I'll be the Hokage, and then you won't tell me what to do!" he yelled, making me and my dad look up from our reading materials.

"Dad, shouldn't you say something?" I said, while Sasuke continued lecturing him. My dad sighed.

"They need to learn how to get along. If I force them to hug and make up, they won't learn," he said, going back to his book. I sighed, studying more. Dad was probably right. They need to figure out teamwork, both Naruto and Sasuke.

Since Naruto pulled up all of Mrs. Yamanaka's plants, they had to replant new ones, which would take even longer. Naruto seemed like he was going to lose it as the abuse from Sasuke and Sakura continued. I got fed up. "Leave him alone! Both of you!" I yelled, standing up. All eyes were on me now. "Ok, yea, so he messed up on the mission, but let it go! You have to fix it now, since as a team you're all one! When one of you mess up, you all mess up! Is it his fault that he pulled those plants? Yea, it is. But, Sasuke, if you didn't constantly show off and push his buttons then he wouldn't try so hard to constantly beat you!" I went on. I took a breath, calmed down, sat back down, and continued studying. Everyone was quiet now, even Naruto, although the grin on his face said everything.

Once they finished, we went to get our next mission, which was more manual labor of some sort. I was too busy studying to really pay too much attention to what they were doing. They were digging holes though, so it looked like they were building a fence. They were doing such a hopeless job though that Dad got up and helped them. While they were working, Naruto creeped his way over. "Hello," I said, still studying.

"Hi," he said, smiling. He seemed nervous for some reason. I looked up.

"What's up?" I asked, staring at him. He scratched his head nervously.

"Naruto! Come help us," my dad called, sounding frustrated after Sakura probably smashed his thumb for the fourth time with a hammer. Naruto retreated back over there quickly, taking the hammer from Sakura and hammering the board into place. I went back to my studying, interrupted every so often by someone shouting some kind of profanity after smashing their fingers.

It was sort of late once they were done, around dinner time. We all walked to the mission place to give our report. I had all of my studying supplies in my backpack, and relaxed for the first time today while we walked there, until Naruto's hand lightly brushed against mine. I blushed and quickly moved my hand to my pocket while Naruto stared intensly at his sandals. Things have been fine between me and Naruto for a while. Ok, fine isn't the words. Things have been amazing. I've never been friends with someone so alive. But, recently, for some reason, I feel such stressed when he's around. I can tell he feels it too. "Want to come over for dinner Naruto?" I asked, looking back at him. He smiled and looked up.

"Sure," he said happily. I relaxed while we filed the report and walked to our apartment. Kurenai wasn't home yet, which left dinner to me. Dad burns things, including instant ramen. He wouldn't eat when Naruto came for dinner too, something with people seeing his face is a big deal.

I boiled some water and threw a pack of instant ramen in the water. I didn't feel like putting actual effort into cooking. Naruto was standing next to me, staring at the ramen. He must be pretty hungry. I heard the bedroom door close, meaning my dad was probably in there, reading. I faced Naruto. "Hey, has something been wrong?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Why?" he asked, smiling. "Nothing's been wrong," he added quickly, knowing asking why I needed to know meant that something was wrong.

"You seem off," I said quickly, stirring noodles. He shrugged, leaning against the counter. "You can make yourself comfortable," I said, noticing his shoes were still on and such. He tried to, by taking his shoes and his jacket off, but he couldn't sit for long, so he returned to leaning against the counter, watching me make noodles.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," he chuckled, thinking about how I lost it. "Sasuke deserved to finally face your wrath." Ever since we went to the movies a month ago, my emotions returned. It was a relief, since I thought they'd never come back.

"That's what friends are for," I answered, pouring beef flavoring into the noodles. I mixed it in and turned off the stove. "Can you get some bowls and chopsticks?" I asked, taking off my backpack and setting it on the floor. Naruto has eaten so many meals here in the last month, he knows where everything is. He pulled out bowls and chopsticks, and I poured ramen into the bowls for us.

"Maybe next time you should have dinner at my house," he said with a smile. This is the third time Naruto has invited me to his house, but Dad won't let me go. I'm not sure why, but he said he just doesn't want me going over his house without other people being there.

"Maybe," I said with a smile, putting our bowls down at the kitchen table. We sat down, and I started eating. Naruto wasn't though, which is strange for him. He was staring at me. I swallowed the noodles in my mouth. "Yes?" I asked. He smiled.

"Nothing," he said quickly, eating his noodles too. We finished eating and sat down in the living room. He's been helping me study for the last week, which is nice, but sometimes he'd insist something was right, until I found it in a book which proved him wrong. I tried to avoid telling him he was wrong though. "Hey, uh, before we start studying, can I ask you something?" he said quickly.

"Sure, what's up?" I said, smiling. I knew something was up. I hope nothing's wrong. He was smilling too, but his hand was shaking. I pretended not to notice.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with me this weekend," he said quickly, making sure to not trip over the words. I was confused. We go to the ramen bar all the time for dinner, but I had a feeling that wasn't what he meant.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, hoping for some clarification. His face turned red.

"I mean, well, there's a new restaurant in town, and it looks pretty good, and… well," he stopped. This is probably the first time I've ever seen him so flustered. He sighed, and regrouped. "Well, I thought it'd be fun," he said, swallowing the frog in his throat that made his voice crack a little. I smiled.

"What time?" I asked simply. That ear to ear grin made its appearance and his hands stopped shaking.

"Seven sound good?" he asked. I nodded. "Awesome!" he cheered, jumping up. I couldn't help but laugh. He could be a goof sometimes, but at least he always made me smile. "Now, let's make sure you do well on your test," he said, sitting back down and picking up the notecards I made.

Friday came fast. So fast that I can't even remember any of the missions we had in the week. The only notable things that happened were me getting my cast removed, and that tomorrow I'm taking my placement exam. I sat in the bathtub, thinking about what was going on. I was getting nervous, to say the least. In an hour, I'd be going on a dinner date with Naruto. Everytime I thought about it, my face turned bright red. We lucked out to an extent. My dad had a solo mission tonight, so it was just me and Kurenai. I washed my hair quickly with my trembling hands and got out of the tub. I walked to my room in my wrapped up towel, knowing I'd have to figure out something to wear. All of my clothes were blue practically. I sighed, looking at all of my bland blue shirts and pants. I have to have something nice to wear.

There was a knock at the door. "Ayame, are you ok?" Kurenai said through the door.

"Yea," I said with a slightly shakey voice. "What time is it?"

"Six thirty. Why are you so nervous? You're just going to hang out with Naruto right?" she said through the door. I didn't answer since I was too busy trying to find something to wear. "Ayame."

"Yea, but it's a new restaurant and I want to look nice," I said quickly. I found a white knee length skirt and a light blue blouse with a white sweater over it. I threw them on and brushed my hair out quickly, pinning a fancier clip in it than usual. I didn't have any shoes other than my sandals and my white tennis shoes, which looked like a nurse should be wearing them. I settled with the tennis shoes, wearing blue socks with them. I came out, trying to keep my cool.

"You look nice," she said happily, handing me the money from my paycheck that came in the mail today. I sighed, slipping the money in my skirt pocket, and relaxed some. It felt nice to not wear my headband or my sandals. Shinobi's don't really get to be off duty much.

Then the knock came, and all of that relaxation went away. I sprung up quickly. "Calm down," Kurenai said, as she opened the door. "Hi Naruto," she said happily. I was shocked by how he looked. The first thing I noticed was he wasn't wearing his signature orange jumpsuit. Instead, he was wearing a pair of nice jeans and an orange button up shirt. He had a dark jean jacket and tennis shoes on. The second thing I noticed was he wasn't wearing his headband. His crazy blonde hair now covered his forehead too. His normal cheesy smile was smaller, probably from the same nerves I was feeling.

"Ready to go?" he asked. I nodded and walked over to him. "You look nice," he said, looking at my outfit.

"Thanks. You too," I said back. Kurenai was grinning.

"Have fun you two, but be back at a reasonable hour Ayame," she said as we walked out the door and she shut it behind us. We both walked pretty quietly, mentioning stupid things like the weather or something every so often. The air was so thick with nerves you could've cut it with a knife. We got to the restaurant though, which was pretty far away from my house, and were seated since he made reservations. Once we were seated, I was able to relax somewhat.

"Thanks for inviting me out Naruto," I said happily, rubbing my arm. His normal grin came back, which was a relief.

"Thanks for coming with me," he said back. I looked around at the people in the restaurant. Most of them were older, but I saw some people out with their families that were our age. There were a few people out on dates too… Was this a date? Some brown haired guy looked over and smiled as he approached our table. Naruto couldn't see him, since his back was too him.

"Naruto, someone's coming over here," I said under my breath. He turned around and his face lit up.

"Iruka Sensei!" he called. Iruka smiled and came over.

"Hello Naruto. It's nice to see you somewhere other than the ramen bar," he said with a smile. He looked over at me and smiled. "Who's this?"

"Oh! This is my… well, this is Ayame," he said, blushing. He was facing the same dilemma I was, trying to figure out if this was a date or not. Iruka smiled even more.

"I see. Nice to meet you Ayame," he said, offering his hand. I shook it, happy to see that Naruto had someone other than me who was friendly with him. "Well, I should leave you guys to your…get together," he said, not knowing whether it was a date or not too.

"Alright! Bye Iruka Sensei!" Naruto said with a smile. The rest of dinner was pretty uneventful. The food was delicious though! Naruto picked a great restaurant. When the bill came, I insisted I pay at least half. "No, I'll pay," he said.

"At least let me pay the tip," I said, which he agreed to, rolling his eyes at me insisting. Once we paid, we started the long walk back to my house. We were talking a lot more freely now.

"You and Kakashi Sensei seem to be a lot closer now," he said. I nodded, rubbing my arm. It felt so nice to have it out of that cast.

"We talked," I said, not wanting to go into the rest of it. I learned though, now that we were closer, that everyone was right. We were a lot alike.

"That's good," he said, staring at the sky. I looked over and saw Sakura with some blonde girl, who I'm assuming is that Ino Pig she's always complaining about. They were staring at us. I looked away, blushing.

"So, Naruto…Um, is this, like, a date?" I asked, finally needing to know where our relationship status was exactly. He blushed, still smiling.

"Do you want it to be?" he asked, staring at me. My face was on fire. He looked back at his sandals. "Because, I would really like if it was one."

I was pretty sure my face would never change back to its normal color. I was going to be red faced for the rest of my life. I just knew it. "Me too," I answered back, my voice really not wanting to work, but I finally found it. He looked back at me.

"Does that mean that we can do another one next weekend?" he said hopefully. I nodded.

"I'm paying next time," I said flatly. He rolled his eyes but didn't disagree. I didn't want our date to end yet. I wanted to find some way that he could stay longer. Then I saw a movie rental place. "Want to rent a movie? We could watch it at my house," I said. He nodded and we scurried across the street to the rental place. We both drifted to our favorite genre, horror. We picked some generic zombie movie, Naruto's choice, and I paid for the rental. We continued the walk to my house, running into Rock Lee. "Hi Lee," I said. Lee and I had also become friends, somewhat, within the last month. We did challenges every so often, but no more battles. They were silly things, like who could do a hand stand the longest (he won since I had a broken arm), or who won at tic tac toe.

"Hi Ayame, Naruto," he said, giving us the look Sakura was giving us. He was thinking the same thing, which I guess was true. "Are you two out on a date?" he asked bluntly. We both caught on fire this time, but Naruto nodded. "Oh, well then, I'll leave you guys alone. But tomorrow Ayame, I challenge you to a race around Konaha!" he said, which I nodded off. He'd probably beat me because he's fast, but that's ok.

We got to my house, which was totally dark. Kurenai must be sleeping. I turned on the kitchen/living room light and walked over to our small tv. No one in our house really watched it, except the news, but I'm glad we had one since we rented a movie. The apartment was pretty cold so I stopped in the hall closet and got some blankets after kicking my shoes off and taking off my sweater. Naruto took off his jacket and his shoes, and sat down on the couch. I plopped the blankets down next to him, put the movie in, and shut off the lights, since there was a glare on the screen. I wrapped one of the blankets around my shoulders and sat next to Naruto on the couch. "Want a blanket?" I asked, gesturing to the pile. He shook his head, and the movie started.

When I called it a generic zombie movie, I wasn't kidding. We caught ourselves saying, "No! Don't go outside! There's zombies! She doesn't love you anymore! She just wants to eat your flesh!" as the stupid characters were lured into zombie traps. Without noticing it, we inched closer and closer together, until our shoulders brushed each other. I looked at Naruto and realized something. I must have freakishly long legs, since normally I was quite a bit taller than him, but sitting, we were the same height. He smiled at me and turned back to the movie. Being so close, I could smell the musty scent he has, combined with the warmth of the blankets, it all made me tired. I leaned my head against his side, which made him even warmer, probably from blushing, but he wrapped his arm around me and kept watching the movie. I never made it to the end of the movie, since I fell fast asleep.

I woke up the next morning, still on the couch, lying where Naruto had been sitting. Kurenai and Dad were in the kitchen, talking about morning things. I sat up, noticed that Naruto must've taken the movie with him to return, and dragged myself into the kitchen to eat, still wrapped up in my blanket. "Look who decided to wake up," Dad said, still in his ninja attire. He must've just come home.

"Yea, I was tired," I said, hopping to a chair in the kitchen area and sitting down. "Besides, my ninja placement exam is today, so I have all rights to sleep in."

"Good luck. I'm sure you'll do fine," he said, standing up and giving me a side hug. I could tell he was off to bed.

"I hope so. Goodnight Dad," I said as he dragged himself to the bedroom to sleep. I made myself a bowl of cereal and started eating, hoping that most of the exam was written.

"Are you nervous?" Kurenai asked, looking at some magazine. I nodded. "Just don't let them intimidate you."

I finished breakfast, got dressed, and went to my exam. It was the moment of truth. Would I get to stay a ninja, or actually have to go to the academy?


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! I know I said it'd be up Thursday, but I was busier than I thought. Here it is though. **

"Ready?" the photographer asked while I sat on the wooden stool. I nodded and smiled for my shinobi ID photo. It's been a little over a week since I took my placement exam, and today the Hokage would tell me what rank I am. I knew I passed already, since I was getting my picture taken, but I had no clue what rank I was. With a snap, the picture was taken, and I was off to the Hokage's office.

The kind old man, who I wished was my grandpa, smiled when I walked into the room. "Hello Ayame," he said kindly, his eyes soft. This was another person that I could never imagine being a ninja.

"Hi," I said nervously. It seemed like good news by how he was acting, but he could also be acting nice because I didn't do well.

"I'm sure you're nervous to know what rank you are. Well, I want to start off by saying that I am extremely proud of you. I remember you when you were just a little girl, and now you're so grown up," he gestured for me to walk over to him. I obeyed, standing in front of his desk. He pulled a new headband out from one of the drawers, stood up, and tied it around my head. "Congratulations Ayame. You're a new jounin of this hidden leaf village," he said with a smile. My heart skipped a beat. A jounin! "I'd be honored to have you on the ANBU black ops division, but I have a feeling, like your mother, you'll turn it down to avoid killing people."

I blushed. "You felt correctly," I answered, grinning. He nodded.

"Once again, congratulations," he said. I thanked him a million times while I ran out of his office to meet team seven, waiting for me outside the building. They saw my headband and all cheered.

"You passed!" Sakura cheered, giving me a hug. "Are you going to do the chunin exams with us?" she asked. Those were coming up in a week or two, and they were beginning to train for it. Usually they have them in the spring or summer, but this year it was winter. They would make sure it the weather wouldn't interfere with the exam.

"Well, not exactly," I said with a smile. All of their faces, except Sasuke's, lit up.

"What rank did you get?" Naruto asked excitedly. To him, it was as if he had taken the exam.

"Jounin," I said shyly. I got thrown into a hug by Naruto and Sakura. I got a good job and a side hug from Dad and a mumbled congratulation from Sasuke. "Will I still get to be on team seven?" I asked, worried.

"I don't see why not," Dad answered, which was enough information for me. Once we all calmed down, we headed for the practice field, Dad leading the way. While we were walking, Naruto's hand slowly reached for mine and held it, intertwining our fingers. My face turned bright red, as did his, but it felt so good. He squeezed my hand while Sakura and Sasuke watched. Sakura's face screamed "HOW CAN HE HAVE A GIRLFRIEND AND I NOT HAVE A BOYFRIEND!" while Sasuke's just showed pure shock. I've never seen that much emotion on his face.

After training was over, we all went to Naruto's house, since he said he had something to celebrate with. It was the first time I went to his place, so I was pumped. Once we were inside, I couldn't help but smile. It looked exactly how I pictured it, small, far from clean, but homey. Sitting on the small table was a cake. I smiled, letting out a chuckle. "What convinced you that I passed?" I said, looking at the cake, which was covered in blue icing.

"The fact that I helped you study of course!" he said cheerfully, while he dug through his pantry for clean dishes. Sakura was kicking dirty clothes into a pile, scoffing at how messy this place was. Was this why Dad didn't want me coming here on my own?

Naruto cut up the cake and we all, except Dad, started eating it. Truthfully, it tasted disgusting, like eating dirt, but we all 'ate' a small piece (Sakura spit hers in the garbage when Naruto wasn't looking, and Sasuke's was in the half dead plant), and thanked Naruto. He smiled, accepting our praises. Then it was time to head out. I still had to tell Kurenai, who would be excited, to say the least. We got home and found her, pale faced on the couch. I think she may have food poisoning, since she's been sick a lot. "I'm a jounin!" I cheered as we came in. Her face lit up and she ran over and hugged me.

"I knew you did well! I'm so proud of you!" she said happily. Then she started off on how grown up and stuff I was, which I kind of blocked out, until I heard her mention Naruto.

"What was that?" I said, hoping she didn't say anything that would prove if she knew anything. As far as I knew, neither of them knew about Naruto and me.

"I just said that it was nice of Naruto to help you study," she said with a smile. "Are you two going out again tonight?" she asked

"I'd assume so," I said happily. This would actually be our third date, since we went for a picnic for lunch during the week. She smiled, and looked at my dad, but he didn't say anything. I knew he was beginning to catch on though. 'I'll tell him after tonight,' I told myself.

Naruto showed up around six o clock for our date. He wasn't as dressed up as the first one, only wearing a t shirt and jeans this time, but I liked when he didn't wear his headband. I wore a similar outfit, only with a coat. He was practically a polar bear, the way he dealt with the cold night air. My dad waved by to us as we headed out on our walk. I was practically skipping. "I really am so happy for you," he said, a tiny ting of jealousy in his voice.

"Thank you Naruto," I said happily, as we walked through Konaha and into the woods, where it was a lot quieter. Somewhere along the lines, our hands ended up together again. It felt so right, everything. There was only one thing missing, but she's been dead for almost two months.

We found an opening in the woods and sat down in the grass, staring up at the sky through the trees. "How do you think Kakashi Sensei will react when we tell him?" he asked, sounding somewhat worried. I shrugged.

"I think he'll take it well, hopefully," I answered, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I don't see why he wouldn't." He nodded. "Do you think he'll react badly?"

"I hope not. Kakashi Sensei can be scary when he's angry," Naruto answered. I nodded, noticing more than anything the secure hand he had around my waist. I wonder if this was how it was like for my parents, a new member of the team coming in, and then becoming friends, until they were together. I wonder if they sat in the same clearing, in the same way Naruto and I were sitting now, thinking similar things that we were thinking. It made me sad to think that it didn't last. "Are you ok?"

I realized that little tears were making their way from my eyes down my cheek. I nodded, rubbing my eyes. "Just thinking."

"About what?" he asked, worried.

"About my mom," I said, closing my eyes. I wish she met Naruto. I wish she knew him the way Dad knew him.

"Oh," he said. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. I shook my head, and that was the end of that. We sat in silence for a bit, mostly since we were tired from today.

"Are you nervous about the chunin exams?" I asked, rubbing my tired eyes.

"Ha! Are you kidding? I'll blow them away!" he cheered. He accidently knocked me over when he did that. "Woops sorry. I get excited when I think about them." I wasn't so excited though. I had an idea of what the exams entailed, which made me worried. I almost wish I was taking them with him. "Why? Should I be?"

"No, I think you'll do wonderfully," I said, making sure he didn't get worried. He grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"You really think so?" he said, still grinning. I put my hand on top of the one of his that was in the grass.

"Naruto, I think you're the best ninja I've ever met. You'll blow through the chunin exams like they're nothing," I said, smiling back.

"Thanks, I know right?" he said. I nodded and lay back in the grass. He lay back too, putting his arms behind his head. "Hey, listen," he started. I looked over at him so he knew I was listening. "The Sensei are having a small party for all of the genin taking the chunin exams, and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me."

"I'd love to," I said, turning my head back to the sky, easing into the grass. He smiled and turned to look at the sky too. I closed my eyes, listening to us breathing and the water from a close stream flowing until we both fell asleep.

It was past midnight when I made it to my house. I knew I was dead. Naruto walked me home, but hesitated at my door. "Wait, Ayame," he said before I opened my apartment door. I turned and looked at him, but he just blushed. "Nevermind. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I whispered. I turned back to my door and unlocked it as quietly as I could. The lights were off. "Good sign," I whispered. I turned on the light to see my dad, sitting there, arms folded. Shit.

"Hello," he said, controlling the anger in his voice. I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Hi," I said quietly, sitting down at the table before he told me to. This wouldn't end well.

"Where have you been?" he asked, tapping his fingers against the table.

"Naruto and I were hanging out in an opening in the woods, and fell asleep. I swear that's what happened. I'm sorry," I said. He could tell I was being honest, but sighed anyways.

"I think I may know the answer to this, but what's going on between you two?" he asked, calming down. I took a deep breath. This is it.

"Well… Dad, I really like Naruto," I said, smiling.

"He's a good kid," was all he said, pretending to not get the point so I'd have to say it.

"Well, we're sort of dating, kinda," I said. He nodded, arms folded. He wasn't thrilled about this.

"What do you mean by kinda dating?" he said. I rubbed my toe into the tile. I was really hoping he'd take this better.

"Well, this was our third date," I said. Oh he definitely isn't happy.

"Third? I never said you were allowed to date in the first place," he said, his voice raising a little but he brought it back down. Kurenai must be sleeping.

"I didn't know I needed permission," I said simply, my voice mimicking how he usually says things.

"You do," he said back.

"Ok, do I have permission?" I asked. He raised his eyebrows, thinking. Then I smile came across his face.

"You can, under some conditions," he said. I didn't like the sound of his voice.

"What are the conditions?" I asked. He cracked his knuckles.

"You aren't allowed to go to his house alone," he started, counting on his fingers. I nodded. "You have to be home from being with him by at least ten," I nodded. "You have to promise you'll get more friends than just him," I nodded.

"Anything else?" I asked, staring at him. A giant grin spread on his face.

"I want to talk to him," he said. Impending doom sunk in.

I felt like I was luring Naruto into a trap while I sat at my kitchen table with my dad, waiting for him to come. I was trying to read my dad's face and figure out what he was going to say, but even if his mask had been off his face would be unreadable. He didn't seem stressed, just reading his book, waiting. I heard the loud knock that Naruto was known for and stood up. "Sit. I'll get it," he said, which I obeyed. Dad went over to the door and opened it. I couldn't see his face but there must be something on it because Naruto looked slightly scared.

"Hi Kakashi Sensei. Is Ayame here?" he said, backing up a little. Dad nodded and beckoned Naruto in. I stared at the table like there was something really interesting on it. Dad had his hand around the back of Naruto's neck and pushed him into the chair next to me. He sat down across from us. I heard Naruto mumble "Shit" under his breath.

"So, Naruto, what convinced you that you had permission to date my daughter?" he started, leaning back in his seat, the pads of his fingers pressed together.

"Well, I asked her out and she said yes…" he said, face turning colors.

"But did you ask me?" he said, eyes flashing. I wanted to sink through the floor.

"…I didn't know I had to…" he said, now joining me in staring at the table. My dad leaned forward again, resting his hands on the table.

"Well, here's what I have to say about this situation. I'm not happy about both of you hiding it from me first of all. Ayame, I thought we had patched everything up, meaning you're suppose to tell me things like this. And, Naruto, you're on my squad. How can I trust you with missions when I can't even trust you to tell me about something like this," he started while we both tried to sink through the floor. "If you both had consulted me from the beginning, I wouldn't have had a problem with it, except problems I'd have with Ayame dating anyone. So, here's how it goes now. I'm going to allow it, under the rules of Ayame must be home by ten, not ten o one, ten, and Ayame isn't allowed to lay foot in Naruto's house unless someone is accompanying her," he said, sounding very formal. "Do you two agree to that?" he asked. We both nodded. He smiled. "Alright, you two are off the hook. I can tell I've made you squirm for long enough."

We both took a breath of fresh air. I was still in my pajamas because as soon as I woke up this morning my dad told me to call Naruto. I rubbed my eyes. Dad leaned next to Naruto. "And if you do anything I deem inappropriate, which I shouldn't have to tell you what that is, I will kill you," he said in the happiest way ever. Naruto went really pale. "Later kids," he said, gathering his stuff for a solo mission and heading out.

I got up and started pouring myself some cereal while Naruto sat there. "Don't worry; he's trying to scare you. I'd kick your ass plenty if you did anything too bad," I said with a wink. Naruto smiled nervously. "Want some cereal?"

"No thanks," he said, closing his eyes, trying to chill out after all of that. Kurenai came out, her face almost green.

"Kurenai, maybe you should go to a doctor?" I offered, pouring milk in my cereal. She shook her head.

"I'm sure it'll be over soon," she said simply. "Hello Naruto. So you dad didn't kill him?" she joked. She must've heard Dad rant about this situation. I nodded. "Good. He has an exam he has to take soon." Naruto grinned, thinking about the chunin exams. I just ate my cereal, not wanting to think about that. "Oh! Ayame, did you show Naruto?" she said. I grinned.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," I said quickly. He watched me scurry off to my room. I threw on my clothes and came out in my brand new Jounin outfit, which was practically the same as my father's. He laughed.

"You look just like Kakashi Sensei," he said, rubbing his head. I smiled and sat back down to my cereal.

"Well, I signed up to help with some of the chunin exams, so I needed a uniform," I said offhandedly. He practically flew through the ceiling when he jumped out of his seat.

"You're helping with the exam!" he shouted, now completely pumped, if he hadn't been already. I nodded. "This is going to be the best chunin exam ever!"

I hope he's right.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Getting dressed up was never my strong suit. I stared down my closet, realizing the sad fact that unless I wanted to wear what I wore on mine and Naruto's first date, I'd have to wear my jounin uniform to the party tonight. I sighed, sitting on my bed. "Why are you giving your closet that look?" Kurenai asked, leaning in the doorway. She's still been kind of sick, but it's calmed down some. Now she's just happy all the time.

"I have nothing to wear for a party tonight," I said. She rolled her eyes and opened my closet wider.

"I'm sure you have something," she said, digging through it. After about fifteen minutes, she turned to me with her hands on her hips. "Well, I guess you're right. You don't have anything," she said. I sighed again. Sometimes it'd just be easier to be a guy. Kurenai was happy if Dad wore clean clothes on a date, let alone actual nice clothes. "Don't fret. Let me check my closet."

I waited for her, flipping through the magazine she left in my room yesterday. It was a furniture magazine, which made me think that she wanted to redecorate. That was a constant thing of discussion, since Kurenai wanted them to start looking for an actual house, but Dad doesn't want to.

I noticed something though that was bugging me. She'd put stars next to things she liked, and then she'd do missions to earn the money for them, so Dad couldn't make an excuse about money. Well, there were normal things starred, like tables and chairs and such, but then there were things that made my stomach churn, like cradles and baby furniture. I felt the blood run from my face. I heard her coming back so I closed it quickly and put it back on my dresser. "I think I found the perfect thing!" she said happily. I smiled slightly. "Ayame, are you ok?" she asked. I nodded, making a mental note to ask Dad about that later. She smiled again, holding up a hanger with a black strapless dress on it. It had a red ribbon tied under the bust. "I could find a blue ribbon to tie instead, since I know you like blue."

I blushed, not sure if I was comfortable with wearing something like that. "Do you think Dad will be ok with me wearing that?" I asked. She nodded quickly.

"Don't worry about him. He won't mind too much," she said. Translation: 'I'll talk to him and make it so he doesn't mind'. I nodded.

"Thanks Kurenai," I said, trying to think about something else other than that magazine and the chunin exams. I was going shopping with Ino and Sakura today, in my attempt to make other friends. I guess that'd be distracting. Kurenai sat down next to me.

"You seem stressed," she said simply. I nodded, rubbing my head. "Worried about Naruto?" I continued nodding.

"It's not that I don't think he'll do well. I know he'll do well. I just don't like the look of things. I was looking at the people entered in it when I was working the mission stand. There are some scary looking people signed up," I said, thinking about that red hair sand ninja.

"Yes, but they'll do fine. Besides, you're one of the proctors. You'll be able to keep a close eye on them. That was the only way Iruka would let Naruto even take the test," she said, smiling. Iruka seemed like a nice guy. I got to know him while working the mission stand. I just don't think he has very much faith in Naruto's ability.

I got up off my bed and put my jounin jacket on. "I've got to go meet Sakura and Ino. I'll see you tonight, right?" I said, putting my sandals on.

"Right. You know, after the exams, I think you should meet my student Hinata. You two would get along," she said. I waved her off and headed to the Yamanaka flower shop, where we were meeting up.

"Hi Ayame! Ayame, this is Ino. Ino, this is Ayame," Sakura said, introducing us. I nodded and waved.

"Nice to meet you," she said back. I could tell just by the way she talked and held herself that I really wasn't going to like her, but I went along with them while they looked for dresses to wear tonight too. "I don't understand why Sasuke hasn't asked me to go with him!"

"Maybe because he's waiting to ask me," Sakura said back, looking at red dresses. I sighed, hating that all they talked about is Sasuke.

"You know, there are a lot of other boys than Sasuke," I said with a smile. They looked at me like I was crazy.

"That's why we get along so well Ayame! You're not competition," Ino said. I raised my eyebrows at her. "I mean, you lowered yourself to dating Naruto of all people!" I was chewing on my tongue. Ino and I were definitely not friends. Sakura knew not to say anything bad about Naruto in front of me, but Ino obviously didn't get that.

"I'd prefer you not talk about him like that," I said, keeping my cool. Ino rolled her eyes and went back to looking at dresses, trying to find something to charm Sasuke. I missed Naruto. We haven't had missions all week, leaving me running the mission desk, since they needed to train. I haven't seen him all week because of his training.

Once Sakura and Ino picked out their stuff, I felt a giant weight lift from my shoulders. Now I can go home. "Well, it's been fun. I'll see you guys tonight," I said happily, waving goodbye. They waved back and I went home.

"Was it that bad?" Dad asked, sitting in the living room when I came home.

"It was terrible! All they did was talk about Sasuke," I said, rolling my eyes. He put down his book, smiling.

"I figured as much," he said. I sat down next to him, wanting to talk about what I saw in the magazine.

"Hey Dad, uh, I have an awkward question," I said, watching his eyebrows rise when I said awkward. "Is Kurenai pregnant?" his eyes went wide.

"Not that I know of. Why?" he asked. Shit. If she is, she hasn't told him yet. I got up and handed him the magazine with the baby furniture starred in it. He wasn't breathing.

"Dad?" I said. He put it down and stood up. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go talk to Kurenai. Don't worry. I'll get to the bottom of this," he said kindly, pulling up his mask, throwing his headband on, and disappearing in a poof. I got up and walked to work. I had to work the mission table again with Iruka Sensei.

"Hello Ayame," Iruka Sensei said kindly. I waved and sat down next to him. "It's been a pretty slow day, but your company is appreciated."

I pulled out a book, and just read. No one came for my entire shift. Iruka was able to grade the big stack of papers he brought with him. Once we both finished the things we brought, we stared at the door, waiting for someone, anyone to come. "Ayame, um, I think I'm obligated to tell you something," Iruka started. I looked at him while he looked around to see if anyone was here. "Well, you see, twelve years ago we had a demon fox attack our village, and in order to save the village, our fourth hokage sealed it inside of a baby," he started. I knew where this was going.

"He already told me Iruka," I said flatly. His eyes grew wide.

"He wasn't supposed to tell you! I'm not even supposed to tell you," he said, freaking out. I didn't know it was such a big secret.

"Oh, well, don't worry. I haven't told anyone," I said, with a smile. He took a deep breath.

"Ok, well, keep it that way. We don't need there being any problems. I just wanted to make sure you knew that before you and him became… too serious," he said, thinking of proper word choice. I nodded.

"Thanks Iruka."

"No, thank you. You've really gotten under Naruto's skin. He's grown so much with you around. It's amazing," he said, making me blush. The alarm went off that said it was time to change shifts.

"Well, Iruka, I'll see you later," I said. I really didn't want to be here anymore. I didn't wait for a response from him. I just got out of there as fast as I could without running.

I walked over to the practice field, to see if Naruto was there. I didn't see him, but I did see Lee, kicking a tree. I quietly snuck away, not wanting to deal with his blurbs about youth that he got from Guy Sensei. I walked home, knowing Naruto was probably at his house, which I wasn't allowed to go to. I paused at the door, frozen by yelling coming from inside. Dad and Kurenai are in an argument.

I turned around and decided it'd be better to go somewhere else, until they were done fighting at least. I walked around Konaha, hoping to run into someone, anyone to hang out with for an hour. "Ayame!" Sakura called. I guess she'll do. I turned around and smiled.

"Hi Sakura," I said. She looked tired from studying all week. She looped her arm in mine and led me to the ramen bar. I knew the look on her face. She wanted someone to gossip with. I ordered us some tea, getting ready to hear her gossip.

"So how about Ino asked Sasuke to go with her to the party as a date and he turned her down! He isn't even coming because he wants to get some extra studying in," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"Poor thing is probably heart broken," I said, not at all surprised Sasuke turned her down. Ino annoyed me, and that takes a lot. I can't imagine Sasuke being able to stand being in the same room with her, let alone go on a date with her.

"I guess, but that means one thing! I may have a shot!" she said, sipping her tea. I smiled, knowing that Sasuke wouldn't ever go out with her either, but I wouldn't say anything. "So how are things with you and Naruto?"

"Fine, I just haven't seen him since he's been training so much," I said, hoping he's been sleeping. He won't do well if he hasn't been sleeping. Sakura nodded, then started talking about her dress for the party, at which point I chose to zone out.

"Well, I have to go home and get ready! See you tonight!" Sakura said, leaving me to pay for the tea, which I did. I took my sweet time walking home, hoping that the fighting would be over when I got there. I didn't hear yelling from outside the door, which was a good sign. I crept in quietly.

It was definitely a major fight. Dad's shoes are gone, which means he probably went to go ask for an extra mission. Kurenai was probably in their room. Well, I knew two sensei that wouldn't be there tonight. I took a quick shower, and got ready. Naruto said he'd be here to pick me up at seven, so I sat down and waited.

I stared up at the clock. Nine fifty two. No Naruto. I sighed, got up and changed back into normal clothes. I had to make sure he was alright so I went to his house and knocked on the door. There was no answer so I sneaked around to the window and peeked inside. He was fast asleep in bed. "I guess you're forgiven, this time," I whispered with a smile.

Since I was a proctor for the exam, I had to show up earlier than everyone else and have a briefing. The test was set up pretty simply. The first part, once you're past registration and such, was a written exam. The second part was a tournament, and the third part would have all of them separated into new teams and sent on a fake mission of some sort, depending on the squad. Each mission was slightly different, but the main premise was that they had to get a certain thing or rescue a certain person, which would involve a major battle. I was one of the proctors in the third part, meaning I'd have to follow a team around and make sure no one got killed. Sounds easy enough.

Once I left the office where we were briefed, I went and hunted down my team. They weren't too hard to find, standing outside the building, filling out paper work. "Hi you three," I said, making everyone but Sasuke jump. Naruto had a guilty smile on his face.

"Sorry, I fell asleep last night and totally forgot," he said.

"It's ok. I figured as much," I said back. Sakura punched him on the head.

"YOU FORGOT A DATE! NARUTO!" she yelled. One good thing about this squad, even if I was mad at him, they'd take care of the yelling for me.

"Don't worry Sakura. It's ok. I didn't stay up waiting too long," I said. "Well, I better leave you three to go take your exam. Good luck," I said, disappearing. It sounded like Naruto tried to say something, but I missed it when I disappeared. I'm sure it wasn't too important.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I stood with all of the other jounin while the remaining genin filed in. It was time for the mission. There wasn't much of anyone left, just Sasuke, Naruto, Shikimaru, Neji, Gaara, and Temari. I was sad to see Sakura didn't make it, but I had a feeling from the beginning that she wouldn't last past the second part. "Congratulations, you all have made it to the final portion of the chunin exams. For this portion, you will be divided into two teams, who must complete a mission. Those chosen to be chunin will not be decided necessarily by who is the first to complete the mission, or even if the mission is completed, but on how you do on an individual level. This part of the exam will commence tomorrow morning and will end at midnight the next day. You'll be briefed on your mission and given your team tomorrow, but for now I'd suggest you go home and rest for tomorrow," Anko said. They all nodded. "You're dismissed."

We all filed out together. All of the genin look beat, to say the least. "Who did you go against?" I asked Naruto. I was going to go watch the tournament but I was busy helping set up for the missions.

"Kiba," he said with a grin.

"Sorry, I didn't come. I was busy."

"That's ok," he said, like he sounded happy I wasn't there. I was curious to what happened, but he sounded like he didn't want me to know.

"Did you get beat up too badly?" I asked. He looked like he got somewhat of a beating, but he was walking on his own, which is a good thing.

"Ha! Are you kidding?" he said with his usual confidence. I'll take that as a 'yes, but I won't tell you that'. "Since I slept through our last date, do you want to make up for it now?" he asked. I looked at him like he was growing two heads. "What?"

"Aren't you exhausted?" I asked. He kept grinning.

"Nope! We can go do something," he said. I tried to think of something that would involve the least amount of strain on him.

"How about you come over?" I said, thinking that we could just relax at my house. He looked at me like I was underestimating him. "I'll make you ramen."

"Sounds good," he said, taking my hand as we walked to my house. I can't believe he isn't tired. I'm exhausted just thinking about what he had to go through. We got to my house and I started making him instant ramen. He sat down and his tiredness started to show.

"Who did Sakura lose to?" I asked.

"Her and Ino tied," he said back, taking off his jacket, revealing some already yellowing bruises.

"I bet that was a messy fight, full of hair pulling," I said with a chuckle. He nodded, half asleep already. "Are you sure you don't want to go home and sleep?"

"I'm sure," he mumbled as I set ramen in front of him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," I said, glad Dad and Kurenai aren't home yet. They haven't talked to each other at all since the argument. I even had to stand between them when the jounin lined up. I leaned my head on the table, thinking about the mission tomorrow. It sounded like it could get dangerous pretty easily.

"You know, I am really sorry about- "he started, but I cut him off.

"I told you, you're forgiven. You were tired," I said, head still on the table.

"I know you forgive me, but… " he said in between slurping noodles. I looked up at him.

"What?" I asked. His face turned pink.

"Did you hear what I said…before you left?" he asked, finishing his ramen. Woops, that must've been important.

"Sorry, no. Was it important?" I asked him, following him around my apartment while he put the bowl in the sink and sat down on our couch.

"Don't worry about it," he said, still blushing, knowing something I didn't know.

"No, tell me what you said!" I said, frustrated. He just kept blushing. "Naruto!" I whined. "Well, ok fine, don't tell me what it was." I said finally, knowing he won. "I just hope Dad and Kurenai take their sweet time coming home."

"Why? Are they fighting? They seemed to be avoiding each other when I saw them at the tournament," he asked, eyes closed, half awake again.

"Yea," I said simply. I didn't want to get into why they were fighting because I didn't know if they were fighting because Kurenai wants a baby, or if it's because she's going to have one. He was quiet for a while, so I was convinced he fell asleep. I almost jumped out of my skin when he did wake up.

"I-," he started, but his face turned red.

"Yes?" I urged. Whatever he said, it was important. I stared at him, waiting. He leaned forward, close to me, kind of smiling but mostly blushing up a storm.

"Well…I like you Ayame. A lot," he said, rubbing the back of his neck while he practically turned purple. _Well, I'd hope so since you're my boyfriend._

"Thanks," I said half smiling. That was the big important thing? He slapped himself in the forehead.

"No, that's not what I meant!" he grumbled to himself. He pulled it together, sat back up, and tried again. His hand rested on my knee, which definitely didn't go unnoticed. I waited, but he didn't say anything.

"What did you mean?" I finally asked. He looked like he was really concentrating on the pattern on our couch, which would be fine if there was one and it wasn't just a plain green color, but finally he looked up at me.

"Well…what I said was…," he paused again. _SPIT IT OUIT!_ "I love you," he said almost under his breath but just enough for me to hear. I think I was blushing more now.

"Oh," Was all I really said. I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his tired arms around me loosely.

"I love you too," I said back quietly, kissing his cheek. We relaxed like this until Dad came home. Then we jumped to the 10 inch distance we're supposed to keep. Dad looked exhausted. "Hi Dad," I said with a smile. He offhandedly waved and went to his bedroom. I sighed. "I guess I should take you home Naruto. Naruto?" I said, looking over when I received no answer at the fast asleep genin on my couch. I used a transportation jutsu to have him sent to his house without me being there. He needed sleep anyways.

I went into my room and started reading my mom's journal. I'd been meaning to read it, but since I've been so busy with all of what's been going on with moving and team seven, I haven't had time. There's no better place to start than the beginning.

Dear Journal,

Sarutobi Sensei gave me this journal to track my new life in Konoha. I really have not much of a desire to write in it, and see it mostly as a waste of trees, but he insists I do so. He wants me to be able to look back at all that's happened in the past few weeks and be able to learn from it, or teach others with it.

I was born in a neighboring village to Konoha. I had four sisters, Hana, Izumi, Kiku, and Rina, and my parents. My mother grew vegetables and flowers in her garden, which she'd sell to florists and grocers, and my father was a store clerk. I feel like since I don't think I'll ever forget what happened, I'm not going to go into extreme detail. I lost my family. They were all killed, by someone who Sarutobi Sensei said was just a burglar. If that's true though, why did they leave me sound asleep in my bed, in the same bedroom I shared with Hana, yet killed her in her's?

I don't know why I was spared, but it doesn't matter I guess. Now I live with Sarutobi Sensei with his daughter and his wife. They're all very nice and kind, but it's no replacement for my family. I miss them dearly, to say the least. I still can't believe they're gone.

Miku

Most of the entries aren't very important, although it was shocking to find out all of these things that I never knew. My mother never did talk about her past, and now I knew why. I was devouring through her journal, reading about how her and my father met. I was burning through and realized that I was going to find out about how and why she's sick.

Dear Journal,

I've decided to try Kakashi's way of coping with loss, going on a mission. I know it's asking for disaster, but when he was telling me how the rush and the feeling of doing something important helped him, I couldn't turn down the idea. I don't have much time to write more, but I think this will be good for me.

Miku

I never realized how much my brother's death affected mom. She always handled it so well, like she was never mourning. She just must have an amazing strong face. Knowing her, it had to have taken a lot to go back on another mission.

Dear Journal,

It's always scary to wake up in a hospital room in a complete haze. Kakashi was there, sitting next to me, waiting for me to wake up. When I asked him what happened, he said they found me in a forest outside of Konoha. I could tell something was wrong though, but I wasn't expecting what he told me.

He said that I overstrained my chakra fighting whoever I was fighting, I don't even remember, and that it's completely damaged the organs that control chakra. Now it's taking my body's natural energy to fuel my chakra. The results would shorten my life extremely. They estimated that I had two years at the most.

I can't write anymore.

Miku

I stared at the journal. She died because someone made her sick. She'd still be here if she hadn't gotten hurt, or even gone on that mission in the first place. I tried to not think of what ifs and put it on my dresser. I can't live in the past. I'll die if I do that. I need to think about the wonderful things that happened today.

The chunin exams went well, for one, and of course, Naruto and my relationship made leaps and bounds. I just needed to keep thinking about that as I lay down in my room, closing my eyes. I heard a slight creek and looked up to see if my dad was there. It wasn't him. He moved so fast that I wasn't even able to scream.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Anko's POV**

I stood before the lasting chunin, all the jounin behind me except three of them. I could tell by the look on Naruto's face that he didn't know yet. Kakashi left the job of telling him to me while he and Kurenai went looking for Ayame. Naruto wouldn't be taking the last part of the exam. He was the last person who saw her, so we needed to have him interrogated. Kakashi said he came home and she was nowhere to be found, just her mother's journal lying open on her dresser. At first we thought she might've run away but there was no sign of anything being missing or any note saying where she went.

"Now before we begin the exam, Uzumaki Naruto, please step aside. You will not be taking the last part of the exam. You will follow me. Gemna will take it from here," I said, watching Naruto's face turn outraged.

"WHY AREN'T I TAKING THEM TOO? I'M JUST AS GOOD AS THOSE GUYS!" he yelled. I just gestured for him to come over, but he shook his head. "I'M TAKING THE EXAM!"

"Naruto, please come here. We have a different job for you," I said, and with that his face lit up and he followed me out of there and to the hokage's office. He said I could borrow it while he was watching the exams. "Listen, you were the last person to see Ayame last night, do you remember her being upset or something?" I asked.

"Uh, no. Why?" he asked. "What does this have to do with the exam?"

"Do you remember seeing anyone else while you were there?" I continued, ignoring his questions.

"Just Kakashi Sensei. What's going on?" he pressed. I wrote down quickly that he said he saw Kakashi, when we had it on record that Kakashi was on a mission. "What's going on!" he shouted. I looked up at him.

"Ayame's missing. Kakashi came home from his mission around nine at night and found that she was nowhere. We've already searched the entire village," I said. His face was confused.

"That can't be right. Kakashi Sensei came home when I was over. I saw him walk into a room in the hallway. Ayame even said hi to him," he said, his eyes full of confusion.

"Whoever that was, it wasn't Kakashi Sensei," I said, which just made him look scared and angry.

"Where is Sensei?" he asked, determined. He would want to go help the search.

"You aren't going to help Naruto. If it's someone dangerous, we don't need you getting hurt. If you help at all, you'll help here. That's it," I said firmly. He gritted his teeth.

"Do you have any leads?" he asked, pacing the floor practically. I shook my head.

"Kurenai and Kakashi are out looking with Pakuun. They're trying to trace her scent, but who knows when this went down. Whoever it was, they must've been strong to take her like that," I said, thinking about how it'd take a lot of effort to do that, let alone without anyone noticing.

"I can't believe some stranger got into the house and I didn't even notice! I was there," he said, the guilt setting in.

"You couldn't have known. Don't worry. I'm sure she'll be fine," I said, trying to be comforting.

**Ayame's POV**

I woke up in an almost completely black room, except for a small torch on the wall. It was cold and damp, like a basement, but the floor and walls were dirt. My arms and legs were connected to chains that were bolted to the wall. Where was I? I remember someone grabbing me but not much after that.

I rubbed my eyes, adjusting to the light, and tried to stay calm. Obviously, whoever they were, they wanted to make sure I didn't leave. There was a door on the opposite end of the room from me, with smoke coming from under it. The door opened and in walked a person. I couldn't tell if it was a woman or a man since the features were unisex. I was guessing woman but it was flat chested. Its eyes were like those of cats, green and glowing while its long black hair framed its face. There was purple makeup accentuating the eyes and the pale skin.

Its hands rested on its waist as it stared at me. "Good morning Ayame," a whispery voice said, walking over to me. Now I was beginning to freak out.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" I started asking, backing into the wall like I could go through it.

"My name is Orochimaru. I know you because I knew your mother," he said, still walking closer to me. On paper I may look like a jounin level ninja, but I was terrified. I knew a properly trained jounin wouldn't be.

"How did you know her?" I asked, my voice shaky. He was grinning at my fear.

"I had my eye on making her my apprentice back when she was young," he said simply, still walking closer.

"What do you want with me?" I continued, really focusing on each word.

"It ruins the fun if I tell you, but since you can't do anything, I might as well. You see, I'm working on finding the perfect tool. An apprentice who will kill when I ask, without question, and who is strong enough to do so."

"And you think that's me?" I asked, not liking the sound of this.

"Let me finish. You see, I started by trying to make that tool be your mother. I went to all of the trouble of killing her entire family to make her cold and hard, but that was unsuccessful since she was able to bounce back from it. Since she was a failed project, I knew I had to get rid of her, so I captured her while she was on a mission and tried to destroy her. She put up a good enough fight though that I had to leave before I ended up dead, but I knew she put a tremendous strain on her chakra. From what I've heard, she died recently, correct?" he said, talking as if this was nothing. I was in shock that it was all his fault that my mom's family is dead and that she overused her chakra.

"Uh, yes," I said, realizing he was talking to me.

"So, this leads us to now. I had two specific people in mind for my apprentice. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Both of them grew up without their families, which could make them cold, although Naruto doesn't seem to be. I was going to go with Uchiha, but then I saw you and Naruto walking around together, and I realized that you'd be the perfect bait. There's no one that could bait Sasuke except maybe his brother, but once Naruto finds out you're here, he'll do whatever he has to do to get here," he said with a smile. "Now, I have to go prepare for when he gets here," he ended, leaving me in the dark room to face that I'm bait.

Naruto's taking the exams though. I doubt he even knows I'm gone. My dad is probably out looking for me. It won't be Naruto. But what will Orochimaru do when he sees Dad and not Naruto?

I fought the chains in the wall, trying to break free, but they were charged with chakra, so it was hopeless. I started digging into the wall with my hands, thinking that I could dig deep enough and pull the chains out of the wall entirely. It'd take some time though. I'm not even sure how long I've been gone, so I have to hurry.

**Anko's POV**

"Naruto, if you really want to help, you have to tell me everything that happened while you were there," I said, sitting down. He was still pacing like a mad man. "Sit down or you'll wear a path in the floor."

He sat down, feeling somewhat useless, which is understandable. He's only a genin, and this mission is too hard for him. "I already told you everything! I came over after the exam and we were just hanging out, then Kakashi Sensei, or someone who looked like Kakashi Sensei came, and then at one point I fell asleep and woke up on my floor. I'm assuming Ayame got me home," he said, going over the night.

"Ok," I said, knowing we wouldn't really find anymore information out through Naruto. It was already late afternoon and we've been sitting here talking about the same few hours. Kurenai came in, looking completely exhausted. "Find anything?"

"No," she said, sitting down next to Naruto. "Kakashi's still looking. Whoever it was, or if it was Ayame, they were smart about it. Her scent is all over the place."

"How about you go home and rest Kurenai. Me and Naruto will look around," I said, standing up. Naruto stood up quickly; glad he was getting to help out. She nodded and disappeared.

"Where are we going to look?" he asked, determination filling him.

"We're going to Ayame's old village. It's literally only ten or fifteen minutes from here," I said. With that, we were off to the neighboring village of Konoha. It was a small rice farming village, where most people had tons of land. We walked up to the old Hatake residence, which has been vacant since Ayame moved here. It was a small two bedroom town house that at one time had beautiful gardens in the front and was so full of life. Now, the gardens were overgrown and the house in general felt ominous, except there was a light shinning through one of the curtained windows. "This is Ayame's old house. I don't know why anyone would be here though," I said, briskly walking up to the front door with the blonde genin trailing behind me. I tried the door, pleased to find it unlocked and we walked in.

I heard a hauntingly familiar voice humming in the kitchen. I froze when I saw the small, willowy woman walk across the doorway. "Miku?" I whispered, walking towards the kitchen. She beat me though, standing in the doorway. I felt faint. She's been dead two months, hasn't she?

"Anko!" she said happily, giving me a hug. Now nothing made sense. I knew she was dead. I went to the funeral. I saw her in the casket.

"What's going on here? I thought you were dead!" I said, looking her over. She was wearing the same thing she'd been buried in, a flowing white dress that she'd made back when she was healthy, and was covered in dirt. "What happened?"

"It was strange. I was indeed dead, but something dragged me back to my body. I woke up in my casket, underground, broke out, and came here to find the house empty. How long have I been gone?" she asked, brushing the dirt out of her plum colored hair. She was staring at Naruto. "And who is this?"

"You've been dead two months, and this is Naruto," I said, still confused. "What do you mean something dragged you here?"

"I was in heaven. I was content with my afterlife and everything seemed ok, and then it was like an arm reached up and dragged me back into my body. It was really strange. I didn't know what else to do but to come home. I don't know where Kakashi lives," she said, sounding confused herself.

"So, are you back for good then? Are you getting a second life?" I said, excited to think that my old friend would be back.

"No, I don't think so. I think there's something I need to do that brought me back, but that it isn't permanent," she said. "I got to see my family again though, and all of the friends we've lost. The afterlife is truly wonderful Anko. Nothing to be afraid of," she ended cheerfully. I helped her dust off some, noticing parts of her body that had decayed but were healing themselves.

"Maybe you're here to help us Miku," I started. She looked at me questioningly. "You see, something's happened to Ayame. We aren't sure whether she was kidnapped or went missing," her eyes grew wider and wider. "Kakashi's out looking for her, and we are as well. We thought she might've come here."

"Well come on, we need to make up for lost time," she said.

"You know where she is?" I asked, surprised.

"No, but I know what her chakra feels like and I know her scent better than anyone. I'll find her," she said, running off. We followed her as she raced through the streets. As we ran she slammed head first into Kakashi. "Oh hi. Come on lets go," she said, grabbing his arm, still running while the shocked jounin was tripping over himself.

"Miku! I thought you were-"

"Dead? I know. I am. I'll explain later. We have to find our daughter first," she said, no nonsense. One good thing about being a shinobi is you're trained to accept and deal with whatever is placed in front of you, without question, so Kakashi followed with us. "I can sense exactly where she is. She isn't far from here, but it feels like she's….underground? Can that be right?"

"Well, she could be in a basement or something," Naruto said, adding his two cents. It would be nice to think that she was safe in someone's basement, but we all knew that wasn't the case. It wasn't long until Miku stopped, feeling the ground with her hands.

"She's under here somewhere," she said quietly, leaning her head against it, trying to hear anything. "But wherever she is, it's deep. I'm going to try and get some sort of reading on the surroundings," her voice sounded colder than I ever remember it. I guess the thought of her daughter being in danger made her more than upset. She used her chakra to try and sense anything that could lend a hand, but she wasn't having any luck. "I guess we could just start digging."

"And fall right into an area that could be dangerous?" Kakashi said back. She whipped over to face him, her actual rage showing.

"My daughter…Excuse me, our daughter, is missing. It doesn't matter if we're walking blatantly into danger, as long as we get her out of here. I'll go in with you as my back up. Anko and that kid can stay up here in case things get bad and we need help," she said, flames practically shooting from her mouth. I pulled myself away from the couple to see Naruto, who was trembling next to me, either scared that Ayame was in trouble, or afraid of Miku's wrath.

"Don't worry, we know what we're doing," I said nicely to him, adding a _'most of the time' _in my head. Miku and Kakashi started digging into the soft soil, with some help from us. You could've cut through the silence with a knife.

"This isn't working," Miku said, still digging with her hands. "Anko, what's that kid's name again?"

"Naruto," I answered quickly.

"Naruto, go to the closest village and get some shovels," she ordered. He listened to her and was off. She kept working silently, occasionally looking up at Kakashi. "So how have you been, minus all of this?"

"I've been ok. Mind explaining what's going on?" he asked.

"If you're asking how I came back, I haven't the slightest clue. I woke up underground, knowing I'd been dead for a while, but had the feeling like I had something I needed to do. I unearthed myself and went back to the house. Not long after that, Anko and Naruto arrived. That's all I know," she answered, staring intensely at the dirt. "Ayame's been ok right?"

"She wasn't at first, but more recently yes. She misses you… I miss you too," he said, looking up at her. She was still staring at the dirt, focusing on what she's doing.

"I miss both of you. Well, at least I miss the old you," she mumbled.

"Why didn't you send someone to get me…when you were…on your way out?" he asked.

"I didn't want you coming because you felt like you had to. You had Kurenai anyways. I don't think she would've liked that very much, no matter how close we'd been. Speaking of Kurenai, are you nervous?" she looked up, still digging though. He looked shocked.

"How do you kn-"

"We know everything up there. It's nice. I even know whether it's going to be a boy or a girl, but I'm not telling," she said teasingly.

"Yea, I'm nervous," was all he answered back when Naruto came with the shovels. Once they were using shovels, the process went a lot faster. Within an hour they had a small hole, which looked like it was in the ceiling of some sort of basement. There was a light in there, even though it was small.

"Well, she's in here. Anko, Naruto, I want you two to stay put at the top, so we can throw her up to you if we can't get out in time," Miku said, sticking her shovel in the ground next to the hole. "Ready?" she asked Kakashi. He nodded, and they both made the plunge into the dark cave. I couldn't help but feel dread as I sensed a chakra that was all too familiar, but it was too late. They'd have to go up against Orochimaru.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Sadly, this is the last full chapter. After this, there will be a short epilogue and the story will be over. **** I had a lot of fun writing it though, and I hope everyone enjoyed reading it! I hope to be posted a lot more stories on here soon (sequel perhaps?). **

Chapter 13

**Ayame's POV**

I jumped out of my skin when I saw two bodies fall from the ceiling, but then when I saw who they were, I thought I must be dead. Dad must've tried to come save me and Orochimaru must've killed us because standing beside him was my mother. She looked around quickly and then came over to me, working on breaking the chains. She was blocking my vision by staying in front of me, so I wouldn't see my dad and Orochimaru in the heat of battle. Then, part of the ceiling caved in, and everything went black.

I blinked at the extremely bright light of a too sterile smelling room. I'd know a hospital room anywhere. I tried to sit up but my stomach sunk and I laid my head back down. Whatever happened, I felt miserable. I faintly remember my mom, but I think I may've just been dreaming. I closed my eyes, trying to get sucked back into that dream.

The thought that I might've been dreaming was washed away when a tiny, frail hand brushed the hair off my forehead. I knew it was her. Her hands smelled like soil and lavender, which was the norm. Was I dead? "Ayame?" I heard her whisper. I opened my eyes again, to be blinded by the light. I heard shuffling and then the light went off, making me realize that it had to be late at night. "Sweetheart? Can you hear me?"

"Mama?" I whispered back, knowing I should feel childish for calling my mom that. I tried to sit back up, but the gentle hand stopped me.

"Shh, relax. Just lie down," her singsongy voice said. I closed my eyes, obeying my mother. Has the past few months been the dream? Did team 7 even really exist?

"Mama, I had the most terrible dream. You got sick and then left us and I had to move in with Daddy and his new wife and leave the house," I started, wanting to tell her every detail. She just kept petting my cheek or my forehead.

"Darling, I'm sorry, but you weren't dreaming. I'm also sorry to say that I don't think I have much more time with you," she interrupted. I opened my eyes again, now able to see my beautiful mother again, even in the dark. She didn't look sick or tired, or even sad anymore, just peaceful.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" I started, not understanding how she could be back if she was indeed dead.

"I was sent back to help you, to protect you. Apparently, some kind of resurrection justu was used on me, but by who is a mystery. Now that I've done what I needed to do, I'm not needed here anymore. Judging by how much the jutsu has worn off, I probably only have a few hours left," she said. I could feel my heart breaking in my chest, thinking that I'd have to leave her again to her eternal rest in the dirt.

"Don't leave me Mama. I miss you," I sniffled out, not able to handle her going away again. She sat down next to me on the bed, situating us so my head was resting in her lap while her fingers worked on calming me down by running through my hair.

"I'm always with you Sweetie. Sometimes you just forget," she said back. "Plus, your Daddy's gonna take very good care of you. He loves you just as much as I do."

"Did you see Daddy?" I asked hopefully. Did they make up? Would we get to be a family again, even if just for an hour or two?

"Yes, I saw him. It was nice to have closure," she said quickly. Then she searched to change the subject. "I met a friend of yours."

"A friend?" I asked, trying to think of who she could've met.

"Yes, a little blonde kid. He's very….sweet," she said, trying to find the right words. "He seemed very worried about you. I didn't recognize him as THAT Naruto until I started talking to him."

Naruto! He must've gone with them to look for me. It's good to hear he's ok, since that creepy guy was after him. "What do you mean by that?"

"You and him are cute together! Just be responsible. You father already has his work cut out for him." she said, acting exactly how I imagined she would when she'd see Naruto and I together. I couldn't help but smile. "You two remind me a lot of back when I was growing up here."

"I just hope we last longer than you and Dad did," I sighed.

"Well, sometimes things just aren't meant to be. But, if you two love each other the way that it sounded when you said it, I'm sure it'll last a while," she said with a smile. I turned red.

"How do you know about that?" I asked, hoping that Naruto wasn't going about yelling _I told Ayame I love her!_ Otherwise my dad will have killed him before the week is out.

"There are some perks to the afterlife. Unfortunately, I can't tell you about all of them now," she said quietly.

We sat there in the silence, both trying to absorb the moment. Somewhere along the lines, her rhythmic hand strokes lulled me back to sleep, bringing dreams of my childhood when we'd do things together: like gardening, painting, jump roping, and (my personal favorite) singing. I dreamt about how she tried to teach me her favorite instrument, the violin, and I failed at it miserably. I remembered through my dreams all of the stories she use to make up and tell me before bed and all of the times she'd make chores, like dishes, fun.

I woke up in the morning, expecting her to be where she was in the night. I didn't feel her move or anything, but she was gone. I shot up, only to hold my head. It must've gotten hurt somehow through this whole ordain. I can barely remember anything that happened though, so who knows. Kurenai was in one the visitor chairs and noticed me when I shot up. "Good morning Ayame."

"Where's my mother? I know she came back! I saw her! Where is she?" I yelled, even though it made my head ache more. The look on Kurenai's face said it all. She was gone again. The wound that had been sewn over was now ripped open and the tears of loss began to stream down my face as I wept for my mother who lost everything but never gave up hope, who sang constantly to keep the ghosts of her past from devouring her, who never let on when she was in pain or agony, and who was devoted to me and my dad more than anyone could ever be to anyone. Kurenai inched towards me. "Please go away," I sobbed back at her. She left alone while I felt myself sinking into the darkness again. I don't know how long I sat there, and I didn't even hear the door open. I didn't even know anyone came in until I realized Dad was holding me.

"Shh, calm down. Everything's alright," he said quietly, holding my hands so I'd stop tearing them through my hair. "Deep breaths. I don't need you hyperventilating." I looked up at my father and realized how beat up he was. His eyes looked so tired, and there was a brace on his wrist.

"Dad, what happened?" I asked once I was able to speak again, swallowing the darkness, if only for a little while.

"We, your mother and I, came to get you. While we were fighting Orochimaru, some of the roof caved in and fell on you. You have a concussion, so you shouldn't even be sitting up," he said, making me lie back down. That explains the lack of memory.

"Is Naruto ok?" I asked. He nodded, still resting a hand on my forehead. "Dad, Mom was here. She was in my room last night."

"Yes, she didn't want to leave you in a hospital by yourself. I guess she'd know that better than anyone," he said. I could hear it in his voice how much he truly loves my mother.

"Dad, why did you marry Kurenai?" I asked a question I asked myself a lot of the time. Not only were they complete polar opposites, but sometimes they didn't even seem to get along. It was like Sasuke and Sakura getting together. He sighed, a half smile on his face.

"Kurenai is sweet, kind, and normal," he said simply.

"Yes, but what about Mom? Why would you leave Mom for Kurenai?" I pressed, telling myself not to sit up because it would just hurt.

"I didn't leave your Mom for Kurenai," I was about to interject but he stopped me. "Your mother and I broke up, but I didn't marry Kurenai for quite a while after, at least 3 years. They're two very different people. Your mother is… was lively and enchanting, but so hardheaded, and so broken. You've read her journal, so you know that. Even before she got sick, it was hard. I love her so much but at night she would just weep over all of the loss in her life. Even though she had an amazing strong face, she was very frail under all of that. Kurenai has never lost anyone. She doesn't understand pain yet, even though she's a jounin. Even if she did lose someone, she's very strong and sound in herself. I guess I need someone like Kurenai for this time in my life. I have enough of my own ghosts, let alone having to fight off your mother's every night," he said, nodding for emphasis. I blinked, realizing that he was right. That would be very hard. A fear struck me square in the jaw.

"I'm not like that, am I?" I asked, fearing that I'd cry at night over the loss of my mother, and that I'd drown in sorrow. He smiled.

"No, you're like me in the sense of mourning. You cry and get angry for while, but in time you learn that life moves on and that you have to accept what happens. You never forget what happened, and learn from it, but you don't mourn forever," he said reassuringly. He looked over at the door. "It looks like I'm not the only person who wants to see you," he said, pulling his mask down quickly to kiss my forehead. "Please get some rest, and eat something sometime soon. I have to go for now, but I'll be back later," he ended, poofing off in smoke. As if on schedule, team 7 burst in.

"Ayame! You poor thing!" Sakura yelled. I cringed, pain shooting through my head. She covered her mouth. "Sorry."

"It's ok," I mumbled. Naruto came over and put some flowers in the vase on the nightstand. They were orange and yellow, pink and red, and blue and purple, and smelled so good. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said with a smile. "I met your mom." I smiled.

"What'd she have to say?" I asked, curious to what she might've said to him.

"Well….let's just say I'm way more scared of her than I am Kakashi Sensei," he said, rubbing the back of his head. I chuckled. That is definitely my mom.

"How did the chunin exams turn out?" I asked Sasuke, who looked like he really didn't want to be here.

"I don't know. They haven't posted the results yet," he mumbled, glaring at the floor. Sakura started her chattering, which I wasn't really paying attention to. I was paying more attention to Naruto's constant fussing with me. First he was messing with my pillow, making sure it was comfy. Then he was tucking me in. Now he's trying his damndest to make sure every wrinkle in the sheets is smoothed out. I grabbed his hand.

"Naruto, calm down. It's all ok," I said, happy he's here but not liking the extra stress. He stopped being so fussy and chilled out, sitting in the chair next to my bed. Sakura and Sasuke stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to say.

"Well, we'll leave you to rest," Sakura said, grabbing Sasuke by the wrist and escaping the hospital. Naruto was staring at the sheets, smiling.

"I'm so glad you're ok," he mumbled. I looked up at him. "You are the closest thing I have to family." I smiled, still lying down. I scooted over and patted next to me on my bed.

"Lie down and rest. You were running around last night too," I urged, but it didn't take much persuasion. He lied down next to me flat on his back, crossing his ankles. I rested my head on his shoulder. "Naruto, I should thank you as well."

"Why?" he whispered, eyes closed. I closed my eyes too.

"I was invisible before I met you. I blended in everywhere, embracing being invisible, not wanting to be seen. But with you, not only do I want to be noticed, but I want to be seen. You're the first person who saw me, outside of my family. I love you," I said, ending my spew before it got too embarrassing. His lips met mine for the first time. It was one of those moments where you could hear the violins playing and the fireworks going off.

"I love you too Ayame. I'm glad you're not invisible anymore," he said, lying on his side now. I buried my face into his chest, never wanting to leave this comfort. I know he wouldn't leave me, no matter what faced us. I could tell by how he held me that he'd never let me go.


	14. Epilogue

Epilogue

Sakura was pulling my snow white hair into a tight bun on the back of my head, holding it up with silver flower clips. She was raving about how beautiful I looked, but I wasn't paying attention to that. It's been a little over eight years since I moved to Konoha and everything changed. Now I was preparing for the next chapter in my life. Here I stood in a white kimono with blue cherry blossoms on it, waiting to marry Naruto. Sakura clipped the veil in my hair. "Thanks," I said, quickly.

"Nervous?" she asked back. I nodded. "Don't be. I'm sure you and Naruto will be happy together," she said happily. She was still trying to get together with Sasuke, who was starting to show more interest in her every day, ever since he finally got his vengeance and helped us kill Orochimaru before he hurt either him or Naruto.

"Aya!" I heard as little feet came running into the small room we were in. I turned around to see Chika, my little half sister. The seven year old had long, black wavy hair that bounced about while she ran in her pretty little white dress. She was excited that she gets to be a flower girl. "Ayaaaaaa, are you ready?"

"Almost," I said, patting her bouncing head. "Who wants to know?"

"Daddy, he's freaking out," she said, still bouncing. I grinned, knowing that my dad was more nervous than I was.

"Alright, go tell him that I want to talk to him, ok?" I said. She nodded and scurried off.

"Well, I guess I'll see you soon," Sakura said, giving me a tight hug before she ran off to find Sasuke. I sat down on a stool in the room, picking at my bouquet of flowers when my dad came in.

"I heard you're nervous?" I teased, turning around to face him. He smiled, still wearing his mask even though he was wearing a suit.

"Well, of course I am. You're getting married to Naruto. I'd be nervous for any wife of his," he teased back. I laughed, standing up to give him a hug.

"I'll be fine Dad," I said in our hug.

"I know. You just need to be careful. Naruto is the hokage, meaning he has a giant target painted on his back. If anyone wanted to hurt Naruto for any reason…" he drifted off, displaying his fear.

"It will be ok. I've grown up a lot since the incident with Orochimaru. Besides, you're second in command for Naruto, so isn't that almost just as risky?" I tried flipping it around on him. He just sighed and waved me off.

"Ayame, are you ready?" Kurenai asked, peeking in the door. I nodded and stood up, taking my dad's hand.

"Are you ready Dad?" I ask, still teasing him for being worried.

"As I'll ever be," he answered back, squeezing my hand. We walked over to where we had to stand, watching Chika throwing flowers everywhere, and Sakura and Sasuke walk down the isle, since they were maid of honor and best man. "We're up."

We started down the isle, my dad leading the way while I mostly watched the floor, making sure not to trip. When I finally looked up, there was Naruto in his suit, waiting for me. I let go of my dad's hand and held Naruto's, knowing that this was the end of one story, but the beginning of another happier one of our lives together.


End file.
